Sunday 2 February 2014

Link to webpage

Here is the link for my website, http://www.swfcabin.com/open/1398249390 The video may take a few seconds to load

Friday 31 January 2014

Evaluation:

Question One:



Question Two:



Question Three:















Question four



:)

Thursday 30 January 2014

Completed Music Video & Footage Clips

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Here is my completed music video, which I have posted to YouTube, I will be starting to gather feedback now. Now I will be starting to analyse my video.

After posting my video, I realised that I had not posted what I had filmed from an earlier point, so have no posted it.

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Improvements On Feedback

The feedback I had recieved after completing my second draft was mostly positive, however, there was one clip that my audience were not very fond of, which was my artists crying at the end and rubbing her face, so to please my target audience, I will act on their feedback, and replace this part of the video.



After watching my video, and enlarging it on YouTube, I can see how this looks to my audience, they are right, it does not look very authentic.





 This is one of the clips I have decided to use, it refers back to earlier in the music video, where my artist was burning the image of him. I think this will show continuity in more story line, as I have used the same shot but from a different angle, I also think this fits with the lyrics as she says 'YOU' which is addressed at him, therefore her staring at the image, is ironic. I have slowed down this clip, as it makes a really nice effect, as my artists hair is being blown in the wind, I will also need to adapt this clip to black & white, making it fit in with the rest of the video.



I have also used the same technique here, referring back to an earlier part of the music video. There are two other reasons that I have chosen to use this clip here:
1. The artist refers to walking away in the lyrics.
2. As it is the end of the song, this connotes that she is leaving, it also connotes that she is walking away from the heartbreak.





Construction Of Music Video

When making my music video, I used Adobe software Premier Pro, where I learnt loads of new skills, as I had never before experimented with this software. At first the process was rather grueling, and I struggled getting to grips with the basic concepts of the software, but as time went on, I learnt the basic and some more advanced skills in order to produce a music video.

The first step I took in regards to the construction of my music video, was adding my mp3 clip, to my timeline, I downloaded my song from a YouTube converter, as I had no other resources in school.
I placed the song, on the audio layer of my timeline, so it was the main source of sound for my video.
The next process was to add my video clips into my timeline, I had several layers on my timeline which enabled me to insert my videos, as I used some to layer eachother. However I decided to use Video layer 1 as my main source for my clips. Having more than one layer, allowed me to keep my footage more organised. When adding my clips, I had to make sure that the miming was in sync with the music, that is why I chose to add the song first, as it was easier to adapt the footage to the music, that then song to the clips.





After organising the clips into a good systematic order, I had to make the video look authentic, my first step was to start adding effects to my video, the most frequently used effect, was where I reduced the opacity of my two clips to 50% then placed one on top of the other, this allowed both clips to 'ghost eachother' I think  this was a good aspect for my video, as its one scene, that tells two stories, so I think that is a good feature for a music video to have.


As you can see from the image above, both clips are layered on top of eachother, and the opacity is reduced to 50% in the effects tool bar, the result of these two effects are featured in the video on the right hand side.

Another important aspect of my video, was making sure that it ran smoothly, and did not look glitchy, so to sucessfully do that, I had to add transistions to several clips, a transition can be placed at the beginning or the end of a clip. Most of the transitions that I used were 'dissolves' being cross or additional. Here is an example:


As you can see from this printscreen, there was three clips of my artist on one scene, but by adding a transitionto each of the clips, it allows them to fade out at different times, this is shown also on my timeline.

Tuesday 28 January 2014

Construction Of Inside Sheet


 The first stage I had to consider when constructing my inside sheet, was the dimensions of the inside sheet, as it would have to be smaller than the front cover, therefore I reduced the size to 4"x4" so that it sucessfully fits into place. I have chosen to do a lyric sheet for my artists video, as it is the first and main song of the album. To comply with the continuity of the rest of my DigiPak, I have carried the crumbled paper background through to my lyric sheet.

The second thing I found appropriate to do, was to add an image of my artist, as this lyric sheet needs to be visually appealing, for my target audience. To keep in with the theme of my DigiPak, I have added the same effect to this image. In regards to my image, I have placed her in the right corner for two reasons, the first being, that her body is leaning to the right hand side, and also, the front and back cover have the main image positioned like this aswell.
The title of the song is 'Wrecking Ball' therefore these are the words that are displayed in the header of my lyric sheet, I have chosen to use the same font that I have used for the title of my album, I will also be adding this font to my artists website, so that will be something that is unique and associated to my artist. When researching DigiPaks, most of them had an aspect that was unique to the artist, wether that was a logo, style of makeup or background.


The final aspect of creating my lyric sheet, was to actually insert the lyrics, instead of copy and pasting them, I decided to type them out myself, I decided to read the lyrics from a well know and trusted lyrics websites, to ensure that there would be no type errors on my lyric sheet, so I could maintain a professional standard. Underneath is my finished lyric sheet, as you can see, I have postitioned the writing around the outskirts of my artists body, this connotes that they are protecting her, from the hurt that is in the lyrics.


Finished Lyric Sheet:


Here is my completed DigiPak, with a front cover, back cover, inside sheet and a disk. As you can see I have kept a continuous theme between all of the features, and the theme also compliments the theme of my music video. I have used 4 different images, which involved 3 different outfits, and 3 different hair styles.


Feedback:
Here is a selection of feedback I have chosen to import.






Construction Of The Disk


When creating the disk design for my DigiPak, I used a template which I found on Google images, as I did try to design my own, but they did not look authentic enough. I will now need to add my desired image onto a seperate layer, in order to position it onto my disk.

 After inserting my picture, I then added the 'torn edges' filtered effect, to fit in with the rest of my DigiPak, the image looks distorted, as I will need to erase some of the image, so that it will fit correctly, onto the disk template. This will be the most time consuming aspect of the construction of disk. So once I have applied the effect, I will need to go on and do this.

This is a print screen displaying how I edited the image, to make the main image of the artist fit in completely with the disk. I used the eraser to eradicate extra bits of the image that fell outside of the template, and tried to the best of my ability to make it as precise as possible.



This is my completed disk, that will feature in my DigiPak, I think this is an appropriate image, as the artist is laying down, and as the disk is a flat surface, I think this is an authentic look for the disk, I have chosen a picture where my artist is looking directly at the audience, so that they connect with them.

Spine For CD Case

Here is the Spine that I made that will sit in between my album cover and back cover, on my DigiPak. In regards to the continuity of my album cover, I have used the same background, and the same font in which I used to make my album title. I have decided to keep this simple, letting the title take up most of the space, this is to make my spine eyecatching, as this is  what people may see, depending on what way the album is displayed. The dimensions of my spine are 0.3892x4.25, I have used the same height so that is fits adjacently with my front and back cover.



 Here is a print screen of the outside of my DigiPak placed on a template, the template fits the same dimensions as my front and back cover, which I then inserted my spine into the middle, as I couldn't find a template with a section for the spine, that complied with the dimensions of my album. As you can see, there is a continuous theme of the crumbled paper background, the main reason for this was to make  it a relation to my website, to show this is a current album, and the website is current. I have also used a black and white theme on all theree pieces, as I think this connotes how my artists feels, I also think it fits with the names of the songs that are located on my back cover. The most eye catching aspect of my DigiPak, is my 'filter effected' images.

































Construction Of Back Cover


I have started to construct my back cover for my artists album, I have used the same dimensions as the front cover,which is 4.75 inches x 4.75 inches, they have to be the same size, in order to create a fully authentic cd case. I have chosen to use an image where my artist is looking away from the audience, as I think this contrast with looking forward, on the front of the album, therefore she is looking backwards on the back of the album. To ensure there is continuity in my album, I have used the same filter and black and white effect, so I have a black and white colour scheme. To fit the conventions of an album, I will need to add 10-12 song titles that are featured on the album, and also a barcode that will allow the album to be sold in the shops.

Here I have started to add the songs to my album, as you can see I have chosen to do 'Wrecking Ball' first, as this is the song I have chosen for artist, so this will be the most known song on my album, which will attract my target audience. For the second song, I have chosen to use the name of my album, as when I was researching albums, I noticed that many artists named there album after one of their songs. To keep with the continuity, I will keep the theme of 'heartbreak' in regards to the name of the songs, I think that this fits in well with the black and white theme, as it shows someone who is blank, therefore the album does n
ot connot happiness, but the sadness of my artist, I think my image also portrays this, as my artist is looking away from the audience, this makes her seem vulnerable.


Here is my albumwith my complete list of songs, I have chosen a normal sans serif font for this, as it appears that a lot of artists use this on the back of their albums, I think this is because it is an easy to read font. I have chosen all of the song names myself to avoid copyright, if there is any songs with these names, it was not intentional, so therefore there was no copy right intended. I now need to add a barcode to my album,

 Here I have added my barcode, which I got off Google, however I searched it as copyright free, the barcode will allow my album to be sold in shops all around the world. I have now noticed that it seems that I have forgotten to add my background to my album, therefore that doesn't fit in with the continuity of my album, so I will have to go back and add this.

 Here I have added the background onto my back cover, I had some difficulty adding this in so late on in the progress of this piece, so therefore I had to use the 'magic eraser' tool, to go round the artists head, without cutting out bits of her head, I used a blur effect, so that it would add a glow around the outside of my artist. However, I can't change the background behind the barcode, as the linings are really small.

 Here is my completed back cover for my album, where I have continued the theme from the front of my album, I have tried to keep my backcover to a minimum, as I didn't want it to look crammed, I was going for a more authentic and professional look, to connote the classiness of my artist. The songs all follow the semantic of being heart broken, which fits in with my artists song from my music video and also the album name.



Monday 27 January 2014

Construction Of Front Cover

 I am editing my album cover in Adobe Photoshop, I have used the picture that I chose when I analysed my photoshoot, on a previous date. The first thing I did was to change the effect of the image, as I don't think a colourful image, would suit the theme of my song, or my artist, I used the 'rough edges' effect, that is found on this software. However, the positioning of my image, does not follow the conventions of an album cover, so I will have to reposition this, in order to fit my album name, and artist name on the cover. I will also need to add a background as there is to much white space. In order to edit this image, I will need to rasterize the layer that is highlighted in the image above, I will do this by right clicking, and selecting rasterize, this will allow me to transform my image in anyway that I would like.

As you can see, I have re-positioned my image, so that the picture looks properly positioned, because of the angle of my artists head, I have chosen that it would be most appropriate coming from the right hand corner. I think the image is effective, as it is a direct address to the audience, as my artist is looking straight at them, this makes them feel more involved, like it is popping out at them, it is also more inviting rather than my artist looking away from them, I also think this is appropriate seeing as it is the 'front cover' so therefore she should not be looking behind. I still need to add my background, and also my album name.

 For my background, I have chosen to use the same background that is seen on my artists webpage, this shows continuity between the album and website. The image is a crumbled up piece of paper, I think this looks effective, as the effect I have used, makes the image looks drawn, therefore its a good contrast with the paper background. I have also added a bevel and emboss effect to my background, so that the creases in the paper are more defined, so people can make out what the background is. To make my image viewable, I had to use the 'magic eraser' tool, however, I was unable, to show the background on her neck, but fortunately, I don't think this looks out of place.


I have decided to name my album 'broken' as I think it is a good representation of how my artist is feeling, after the song 'Wrecking Ball.' I created my title on www.dafont.com, where I print screened the image, and then cropped it in word, whilst making the image transparent, so it was coherent with the background. I used this font, as it is each letter is from news paper clippings, which have been broken away individually, therefore I thought this would be an appropriate font to use for my album, the text is also black and white to fit in with my image. As you can see, I have written my artists name in the corner, but I don't think that looks very authentic, as it is in just a plain sans serif font, and is not very eye catching, so I will have to re-do that.

 As you can see here, I have created my artists name, in the same font as my album title, however, it doesn't fit in properly so I will have to re-position my main image, to make that fit. I have also used an effect with the rubber, to make it look like a piece of the album has been burnt, as this also fits in with the lyrics of my song, and is 'broken' which is the title of my album.
Here you can see that my artists image has been re-positioned so that the texts fits on the album cover.

Finished Front Cover!

My inspiration for my album is the Beatles album 'Revolver' as the artists have been computerised so that they look drawn, I find this very authentic, and think it looks really good, this is why I have chosen to do my album cover like this. When I was researching album covers, I also found that a majority had a black and white colour theme, so I decided to use this aspect, when creating my album cover.

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Actor and Film Location.

For my music video, I have chosen to do the song Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus, this video has caused quite a shock in the media recently, and i'd like to put my own twist on it. For the role of my main artist, I will be using a female, Jess Nemeth, I also plan to film this video inside and outside, as I am still unsure, I will be experimenting, to see what fits in.. My story line will be a woman, who has been emotionally wrecked, so it will be a narrative video, with some performance features. I will be telling the story of how she is broken, but she will also be lip syncing with great emphasis on how upset she is. To make my video look authentic the lip syncing needs to look realistic and in time to the music.

Costumes:
I think that I will have to use a variety of different outfits for my artist...
1. All black outfit, this is to connote that my artist is in a dark place in her life, and that she is really upset.
2. All white outfit, this is to show that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and there is love after heart break.
3. Evening dress, this is to promote my artist.


This page was a draft that I had forgotten to post!

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Second Ancillary Task - Album Cover

I have decided to create an album cover for my artist, which I will then incorporate onto my homepage for my website. So I have started looking into album covers, the first fact that I found was album covers are roughly 4.75 inches by 4.75 inches. I will now start to analyse other artists album covers before I start the initial design process of my cover.


This is the album cover of a Lady Gaga CD, I have chosen to look at this one because as she is known for her outlandish behaviour I wondered if her album cover would also represent this. The most eye catching part of the cover is the artists face, which has been well edited so it's very defined, it almost looks 3D, this is a good way to make the cover eyecatching, therefore visually appealing to her target audience. She has also chosen harsh black makeup, to emphasise her facial features. Her face is covered by an upside down triangle, which is associated with the 'illuminati.' The background is a purple background, which has been put on a gradient so desolves into a lighter purple. The bottom of the cover has images of lady gaga's head. In the bottom left hand corner, is a 'parental advisory' sign, this is used on many explicit videos, but in this case I feel that it used to connote the extremism of her personality.The only writing is the artists name, and the name of the album is one of her songs, so I will bare this in mind when designing my album cover. They have chosen a rather girlish font, for a female artist.



The next album I have chosen to analyse is pop singer 'KE$HA' this keeps with the same conventions of the Lady Gaga album, the artists face is the main attraction on the page, it is fairly big, and extenuated, however, I feel that this album cover is quite ferocious, the image is harsh not smooth, and the font chosen is pointed like spikes. I think this fits in with the album name 'Animal' so the idea of the cover is to be fierce, I will also keep this in mind when making my own album cover, this is emphasised by the lightening bolt that has been added to her face, I also think this connotes the shock that she has caused as an artist.