Digipak; Font ideas

For our digipak, we wanted to go for a funky, yet quirky text, which would attract our target audience, and go along with our quirky music video. We came across a text called que-fonta; the picture beneath, which we found online and thereby downloaded onto our computer hardware. As we had used this font already in our music video, we felt that it was a good idea to use it again, to make our audience familiar with it, in a way in which it becomes linked to the band. So when people see the font, they know it is something to do with Polar Collective. However, this is just an idea at the moment, and therefore can change when it comes to creating it, as it may not look the way we imagined it too. 

Filming phone sequence; what worked/what didn't work

In a certain aspect of our Music Video, we film a part on a phone, in which it types up the lyrics which match the song. These are images of us trying to film with two different types of Blackberries, and testing out which Blackberry worked better. As you can see, in the 1st image, the lighting is very restricted, causing there to be a red tint towards the image because it was filmed in the evening.

Whereas in the 2nd image, the image is taken during the day, therefore drawing more light into the image, to give a smooth and natural effect towards it. Also as it is filmed during the day, it takes away the red tint that occurred when filming during the evening, therefore allowing the audience to see what phone it is, what colour the phone is, and also giving the Music Video a warm natural look to it, aswell as quirky.

The use of clocks

As our chosen song for our Music Video is a up beat song, with a continuous beat, we felt it was important to make sure we edited as much rhythmic editing into our video as much as possible, to enable a smooth and continuous flow to it. With the opening line of lyrics in our song being "when the morning comes", the clocks symbolise and introduce the new day coming in, in which before hand see the star image asleep, therefore being an alarm clock for him to wake up.

To ensure we are targeting our audience, we made the clock get to midday until the alarm went off, and when the star image got up. As our target audience is of the younger generation (teenagers), they're stereotyped as being lazy, and lazing around in bed asleep until midday. Therefore this is a perfect way to relate to our audience.

Possibility; Re-filming

Whilst looking through our Music Video, we came across a certain scene, which we thought as a group was unclear. Although we know Sam is holding the Barbie in his hand, the audience may not be able to see, as the camera quickly pans up Sam's body. Therefore, we feel that it is best to re-film this certain scene, to make sure that the idea of the relationship that we want to create of Sam and Barbie, isn't missed by the audience, and the whole narrative of the music video isn't understood.

We could improve this scene by filming the scene in the same location, but by zooming more into Sam and the Barbie. This way, we would also be able to see Sam's body language and facial expressions to Barbie, to portray his feelings to her.

Barbie & Sam

As we wanted to make a narrative for our music video, as well as performance, and were already using Barbie for our Stop Motion animation, we decided to also use her as a way of portraying a relationship with Sam (the main character/Star Image). The two images are taken from a scene in the music video, when Sam looks at Barbie, and a eyeline match camera shot is taken of Barbie looking back at him. It almost's creates a cheesy yet quirky feel to the music video, engaging our target audience even more.

Digipak; Inside- right side (idea)

This is our last idea for our digipak, which would be located on the right hand side of the CD case. We have located Sam in his house by which we have placed him on some stairs to indicate that he may be at a house party. We have used the beer bottle as a prop, to target our target audience, and we have used the silly string to suggest a 'crazy' but 'fun' night, flourishing a quirky and funky look to it. We have placed the guitar in the corner for a purpose, as the guitar is the star image's main instrument that he plays both in the song and in the video. We graffitied the guitar especially for this music video, to make it look indie, and to target our target audience more, to indicate the 'younger and brighter life'; with the use of bright and bold colours used on the guitar.

Digipak; Inside - left side (idea)

This is another shot that we want to include within our digipak,maybe as the inside cover however we are not sure yet. Likewise this picture brings a sense of contuinity to our digipak, linking to the front cover of our shot. What makes this shot so effective is the use of leading lines, the front duck being in complete focus whereas the last duck seems to be a bit blurred, i believe this really works as there is also a hidden duck in the background bringing another element of quirkiness and fun to our digipak. I edited this shot on the same editing programme however used a different effect, which really enhances the vintage look of the shot. I believe this would work as an inside cover as it doesnt have sam in it therefore focusing the audience's attention on the front cover yet it is still a dynamic image which is engaging and quirky.

Digipak; back cover (idea)

This is the image we constructed and chose for the back of our album. This image really epitomises the house party feel with the rustic guitar covered in silly string with beer bottles staggered over the shot. Like the front cover shot it has been lit from above with 2 lights pointing to the guitar from different directions, this has created a vibrant image with the guitar stickers jumping off the shot in contrast to the wooden floor which gives the shot a 'basement feel' to it. We wanted our album to have a sense of continuity to it therefore i chose the same font for the back cover as well as the front cover. To highlight the text i chose to differentiate between black and white as well as putting a cartoon cloud in the top right hand corner, bringing another aspect of quirkiness to the shot as well as referring to our music video.

Digipak; Front Cover (idea)

This is the image we chose for the album cover. As an album cover we thought this shot was really effective as it has been lit rather well, with a 2 point lighting system, it also employs the rule of thirds as well as being a nice photo of sam, enhancing the star image. The ducks are significant within the shot as it brings that quirky feel we were after as well as bringing some vibrant colour to the shot. To edit this shot i used a free editing programme and after playing around with the different functions i came up with this effect. As it has a vintage, polaroid look to it this highlights the quirkiness as well as attracting our target audience as the vintage look is in fashion currently. The font is still in a working progress as it is what we are looking for, something quirky and cartoon like however i believe we could make it stand out even more, and to do this I was thinking about putting the font in seperate boxes, enhancing the animated look as well as making it stand out even more than it does already.

Clips; unused

Whilst looking through our footage, we came across lots of footage that we haven't used in our music video. There are many reasons as to why we haven't used them. The first screenshot taken, wasn't used because it had no purpose to the narrative. Perhaps if we had included Barbie into this scene, it would portray Sam's and Barbies relationship, but as it is just Sam, the shot has no purpose. 

This clip wasn't used as it doesn't produce enough light. It gives almost a charcoal effect to the image, allowing Sam's face to be a blur. As the lighting is too high hey, it produces lots of shadows on and around Sam's face, therefore not portraying the star image, and in this case, does not allow the lip syncing to be made clear enough.

Last of all, this shot hasn't been used as, if you look close enough, you can see the camera in the rear view mirror. Also, as Sam's head is covering the majority of the shot, it can be hard for the audience to locate where the shot is taken place, and would in this case confuse them, losing interest in the narrative, and the purpose towards it. It is also unrealistic, as there is no way that Barbie would be able to be seen in the rear view mirror, due to her height and size. Although we have gone for the fake look on Barbie, we didn't want to go for the unrealistic shots, as the audience wouldn't believe what was going on. 

Digipak; Idea

This is one of our ideas for Digipak. We came up with the idea of adding in the rubber ducks to make the image look quirky and fun. However, when examining the image as a whole group, we noticed that the bottom of the rubber ducks were cut out of the image, therefore bringing an annoyance and frustration to the picture. We also realised that Sam's shirt didn't contrast well with the background, as there was too many dark colours being flourished.

Also by looking at the image, we decided that the umbrella didn't work; it didn't give a purpose to the image. Thereby we have decided to put this idea aside, and photograph some more pictures, giving us a range of better ideas to choose from, learning from our mistakes.

Today's Lesson; Colour Correction

In today's lesson, we began to colour correct some of our shots taken. Due to the lack of lighting in various clips, we resolved our problem by using colour correction; a tool effect on 'Final Cut Pro', which enhances lighting when needed, or dulls lighting when it is not needed.

We mainly focused on the beginning clips we had filmed first, as we were unable to use a source of lighting whilst filming. Due to the amount of red in the room, we came across the problem of the setting looking too red. To ease out the redness of the shot, we used the colour correction tool, and moved the ball centered in each of the cirlces the opposite way to the red. This was done to try and block out the redness within the shot. We mainly altered the colour by scrolling the bar upwards on the 'Whites' circle, to produce a more natural and brighter look; this worked successfully.

When editing the footage we had filmed last lesson in the studio, we noticed the mass amount of Grey flourished within the shot. As a group, we decided the best thing to do, was to colour correct it. But, as we didn't know whether to brighten the colour to make it more white, or to dull out the grey into black, we tried both ways to see which colour correction to the clip looked more professional, and which best matched the conventions of a music video. After experimenting with both, we all decided that dulling out the clip to increase the amount of blacks produced in the image, made it look more professional. It also enhanced on the shadows in the background, making Sam's face stand out more, and the lip singing look more clear.

Whilst watching the entire music video throughout, we came across one of the chorus sections, in which we had filmed Sam with a box on his head. As there was many shadows produced within the box, we decided that in order to make the video look bright and bold to be able to target our chosen audience, we needed to colour correct the clips taken. As the clips taken are dull and bland, it stands out in our music video, as the remaining of all of the other clips are bright and colourful. To make these clips florescent like the remaining clips, we altered the 'Whites' tool bar, to make the clip block out the shadows. Below are some images taken of the outcome of colour correction:

Screenshots taken from our video, to show the progression of lighting when altered using Colour Correction. 

Polar Collective; advertising

Our chosen band 'Polar Collective' are successful in many ways of advertising their music and their personalities within the band. By doing some research, Polar collective advertise their music through:

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/PolarCollective

YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/PolarCollective

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/PolarCollective

MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/PolarCollective

SOUNDCLOUD: http://www.soundcloud.com/Polar-Collective

TUMBLR: http://www.polarcollective.tumblr.com/

Just recently, they have also signed their music up to Itunes, making it accessible for people to buy their singles at £0.79 and their album at £3.16. 

With their own youtube channel, they are able to post videos of live gigs, video diaries and videos which overall just present their bubbly personalities. With youtube being one of the biggest video websites, people all around the world are able to gain access, which means people such as Music record labelling companies may view them and sign them. Not only this, but with their fun and quirky personalities, people are more likely to like them, and listen to their music, which overall matches their personalities as a whole. Not forgetting their target audience, which is mainly teenagers and women.

Drake- Take Care meaning

Drake- Take Care album.

This album cover I believe is very successful, but in a very peculiar way. Its not your normal album cover, and if you haven't listened to the album yourself, it may be hard to understand the meaning of it. I myself have listened to the album, therefore I am unable to understand the message and meaning flourished in this chosen album cover.

 'Take Care features an atmospheric sound that is characterized by low-key musical elements and incorporates R&B, pop, electronica, and post-dubstep styles. Drake's lyrics mostly eschew boastful raps for introspective lyrics that deal with topics such as failed romances, relationship with friends and family, growing wealth and fame, concerns about leading a hollow life, and despondency. The album has been noted by music writers for its minimalist R&B elements, existential subject matter, conflicted lyrics, and Drake's alternately sung and rapped vocals'.

The golden props are used to flourish his use of lyrics explaining his growth in wealth and fame. In contrast, the dark background is used mainly to explain his emotional feelings with failed romances, relationships with friends and family, and leading a hollow life, alongside his facial expressions used to portray his loneliness and depression. 

In an interview, Drake explains why the album is called Take Care. He explains ' “Take Care” is this thing we use in passing conversation to dismiss talk like, “Oh, you couldn’t make it on time? Oh, take care, take care.” We’ve always used that and then I really took so much care making this album. I knew I was going to go home and take longer than six months, I knew that I was literally going to take care of making this project and be attentive, be clear, be immersed in it. “Take Care” worked'.

Many people within the media ignore that albums do have a meaning behind them. This has made me think what type of meaning our chosen band has behind there music. By doing some research about their band, this may lead us into a new direction with our digipak, to give our album cover a meaning behind their music as a whole. 

In depth research; Digipak

As we have now decided what images we want to create for our digipak i have down some more in depth research about similar digipak's that i have found online, that contain the same imagery as ours. So a man with a guitar, certain similar locations and mise en scene. The reason for doing this is so i can grasp a better understanding of the conventions within the music industry in which sort of album cover appeals to a certain target audience. Therefore for our particular album we wanted to create a conventional album, a man with his guitar however we want to bring our own quirky twist by using some unique imagery alongside it, for example we are planning on covering our artist and location in silly string which will hopefully create a quirky and dynamic image.

This is the first album cover that i have analysed in order to get a better understanding of the type of digi pak we want to produce. This is similar to what we want to produce as the main  focus of the cover is the artist with his guitar and this is what we want to achieve however we want to employ the rule of thirds to create a better looking shot. Furthermore the constructor of this album has played around with saturation and different colourations, we also want to do this, however we want to desaturate our cover a little bit rather than to create a yellow tone, we want to desaturate ours a little bit in order to create a more moody atmosphere, this will be popular with our target audience as it will have a serious, musical feel to it as well as a quirky twist alongside it.

This is an example i found of an ed sheeran image which is similar to the type of shot we want to create for our digi pak cover. The location is what stands out in terms of what we want to use for our digi pak, Ed is sitting on a bench which is a conventional setting for a songwriters album, as it shows their humility as well as portraying their raw talent through the raw location of a bench. However we want to create a different shot to this one as we want to use the rule of thirds and leading lines to enhance our image further, this will focus our target audience's eyes on to our artist and his guitar, which is ultimately the most important thing. 

Social networking sites in our Music Video

 

         Facebook logo                     Twitter Logo

We have also edited in some text into another section of the song. As we were again unable to get another actor to act in our music video, we have had to abbreviate and think of another technique in which we could use. As our target audience are of the teenager age, we have decided to bring in social networking sites, such as facebook and twitter, which will be familiar to them, as the majority of them use them daily. To be able to of done this, we filmed Becca typing in the lyrics on her phone, and when coming to the process of editing the footage into our music video, we adjusted the speed, to make it in sync with the song.

 Through text message, this being one of our target audience's main hobbies. By using this clip, it almost encourages our target audience (teenagers) to text their friends/family about our video, therefore advertising and recommending our video to others, gradually building a fan base.

 Through Twitter; more chance of target audience tweeting about our music video.

Through Facebook; more chance of target audience writing a status or broadcasting our music video through youtube link. 

To make our music video as much in relation to our chosen band 'Polar Collective' as possible, we made sure that when filming the social networking sites, we had filmed them from either their own twitter and facebook pages, or we had made sure that they were to be seen somewhere on screen and not just someone random.

To variate this section of the song, at the very end of the rapping verse, we decided to move away from social networking sites, and go back to the quirky text which we had used earlier on in our video. All that is said is "Yup" which we have edited to quickly flash up in sync with the rapper as he says it. We have done this to show our use and understanding of Rhythmic editing.

Editing Text into our Music Video

In our chosen song, there is a specific line which says "You're not dating her". As we are unable to get another actor to act in our video, we decided to edit text onto the footage that we had filmed. We decided on this idea as a group, and overall thought it looked fun and quirky which mainly targeted our target audience.

We got our inspiration from this music video by Kanye West : All of the Lights ft Rihanna & Kid Cudi:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAfFfqiYLp0

These are a few photos taken of screenshots from our music video:

This is the font we chose to use 'que fontita' as we believe this would create the kind of look we were trying to achieve, giving a new dimension to our music video. We believed that it gave off a quirky and fun look about it. We also believed that it almost looked like graffiti, which becomes popular amongst the youthful age; our target audience. 

Filming in the studio

As our music video is almost done, we only have a few snippets in which we need to fill in the gaps with footage. Therefore in our lesson on the 13th December, we decided to go into the photography studios, and film lip singing. With the lighting provided, we filmed some excellent shoots almost making them look professional.

We were in the studio for up to about an hour, as we had to repeat certain different sections of the songs, to ensure that Sam had got them on point. There was also moments when Sam forgot the lyrics, therefore we had to film again. We were very patient with Sam, as at the end of the day, we all want to achieve the best mark we can, and to also produce a very successful and amazing music video.

Whilst filming, we continuously came up with different camera angles and movements, to ensure that we had a variety of angles, and to make certain that the camera movement was continuously flowing, to make it more exciting rather than keeping it at a fixed position.

As our chosen song 'Weather Girl' by 'Polar Collective' has a steady beat to it, me and Sam both came up with the idea of filming the camera at Sam's foot, which he would tap in beat to the music. We came up with this idea, to flourish our understanding of rhythmic editing, and to also present it within our video, to show passion and coordination.

At the end of the lesson, we uploaded the footage we had filmed in the studio, and began to fill in the gaps, with the footage. As we had spent most of the lesson filming, we only roughly had about 10 minutes to upload and begin to edit, therefore we decided mutually together, and decided to focus on the editing next lesson, to ensure that nothing was rushed. Also, as Becca had left half way through the lesson, we thought it was only fair, to also edit it next lesson, to make sure that we all had an input, as at the end of the day we are working as a team, and we all need each other's idea's and opinions to make us successful.

Digipak Ideas

For our Digipak, we have come up with several different ideas, which we will photograph first and then collect and choose the best one. One of our ideas are to photograph, using the rule of thirds alongside a mid-close up of Sam sitting on a park bench with his guitar, producing and flourishing the star image. To make the shoot creative, we have decided to include silly string, to make it bright and colourful, targeting our chosen audience; teenagers. Also, with this time of year, the weather is very dull and glim, therefore the silly string will look vibrant and florescent up against the gloomy background; this is the type of image we would like to go for. 

A second one of our ideas is to photograph Sam also sitting on a park bench, but this time, to be holding an umbrella. We have decided on the umbrella as an extra prop, to give a quirkiness feeling to the cover, and to also resemble his 'depression' in one of the songs 'Weather Girl' which is our chosen song for our music video, and which is also on the album. With this idea in mind, we have also thought about also using the silly string, and covering it all over the umbrella, so pieces are dangling onto Sam. This would create a cool, bright and funky look, therefore enhancing the look that we want to distribute to our target audience.

             

Our third idea was to completely cover Sam in silly string. To make this work, we would photograph Sam up against a White background, to ensure that the silly string on Sam is the key feature of the photograph. However, there would be two difficulties in covering Sam, this being that silly string is sticky, and it may be hard to get off Sam's clothing and skin. Also, as Sam is fair skinned, he may have a reaction to the silly string, therefore we wouldn't want to put him at risk. 

These are just a few of our ideas outlined.

Today's Lesson

In today's lesson, we attempted to edit some more footage into our music video. But, whilst Becca and Sam were filming, they accidentally filmed them talking about ideas, rather than the actual ideas them self. Therefore, we wrote down what our ideas were, and arranged another date to film.

Colour Correction

Colour correction is a brilliant tool seen within the final cut pro programme which enables you to control the saturation, contrast and white balance of your clip. For our specific video this is vital in constructing the look we want to achieve, which is a vibrant, high contrast one. Specifically we used/will use the 3 way colour correcting tool which gives us even more control over the way our footage looks and will be percieved. 

In my opinion this is a brilliant example of the way colour correction can really transform a piece of footage for the better. As you can see the three colour wheels on the left are what ultimately give you the full control over the saturation, white balance and contrast of the shot. When the saturation is altered this either emphasises or dampens the colour, eventually putting it into black and white. Whereas the white balance controls the lightness of the shot either making it washed out, which is what you would maybe use in creating a thriller or as in a music video case it can add real depth to the shot, creating a dynamic image. Furthermore the control that is possible over contrast is the most useful for our specific music video as this allows us to create vibrant, dynamic footage which almost takes on a cartoon feel which is what we are after in order to construct our quirky/indie music video. We are constantly using this helpful tool throughout our video as it emphasises our use of lighting which ultimately makes our footage look more professional as well as being well put together. Evidently within the image above, this tool is helpful in many ways, especially in emphasising the headlights of the car, making it look more powerful than it is, in addition to this it also gives the shot a 3d dynamic unlike the image before it was colour corrected. Editing using colour correction ultimately is to engage our target audience as it is apparrent that a more dynamic image creates more attention rather than just a plain 2d image which hasn't been edited. This is because our target audience of young adults are used to seeing dynamic imagery through the new tech films and music videos and that is why we want to achieve this look within our music video, and our answer to this is effective lighting and good use of colour correction.

Trouble with natural lighting

Last lesson, we attempted to film some more footage for our music video. We wanted to set the scene with Barbie sunbathing on the Grass, where we would pan up her body to portray voyeurism. However, we were unable to do this, as the weather was very unreliable. As we are filming in Winter, we are finding it very hard to be able to get a chance of sunshine, as the sky's are very dull and grey. But, as we are still interested in filming this scene, we will look out for the sunshine, and quickly film it.