Thursday 27 November 2014

A2G3: Progress update 27/11/14

Gwen

Today I changed and edited the digipak, then spent a large portion of time editing images that may be used for either piece of printwork.


 I desaturated this image to reinforce the sense of loneliness and isolation that we have attempted to convey throughout the video so far.
 
 
 
I took this image and investigated both ideas previously suggested in the group, each using contrast to create emotion.
Here we see the boy in colour on a black and white background, and below a black and white boy on a saturated background.
In each example the idea that he is apart from his environment is highly prevalent, and has advanced ideological meaning.

Isaac

Today I copied Gwen in the sense that I spent the lesson editing stills taken from our footage and I have produced a number of viable images for consideration in the effort to produce great printwork, on which Gwen is leading. It's worth pointing out that Gwen's research into printwork has been purely stylistic, whereas I have been experimenting with/practicing colour correction, which is a process I will have to undertake alone at home. Here are the images, with their colour corrected versions underneath. Both Alex and Georgia did some of these, so they have contributed to the colour correction process
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Alex

Alex spent most of the lesson planning what needed shooting on his solo shoot on Saturday. He went over the footage which needed redoing with Georgia and Isaac pitched in as well.

EDIT: Alex has now finished his shoot and Georgia is reviewing the footage.

Georgia

Georgia continued her work on the editing side of the project, which is now drawing to a close. She finished editing the rough cut of the bedroom scene, and now is moving on to review the footage Alex shot on the weekend.

A2G3: Storyboard Update

Alex has been working on a storyboard for our concept for a month and a bit now, but we've realised that with deadlines approaching and our time becoming more precious, we can't afford to spend so much time on this one task. For this reason we have decided to simply use the storyboard frames that have already been made, and the rest will use stills from footage we have already shot. An animatic will be made using this collection of frames, and we will post this shortly.

A teaser showing our current timeline

Wednesday 26 November 2014

A2G3: Progress Update 26/11/14

Georgia

Georgia experimented with the time stretch tool, which allowed her to increase the speed at which the actor goes up the stairs. This makes the shot more energetic and emotional, as opposed to tired and nonplussed as it appeared before. This shot is actually on Alex's reshoot list, as Isaac felt that the framing could be improved (although it's worth noting that Isaac pre-framed the shot, tut tut!).

Isaac

Isaac spent the lesson doing various blog tasks and one small portion of the editing. He reformatted several group and individual posts so that the blog appeared more neat and formulaic, as opposed to having multiple formats for each post.  He also made this progress report and fixed the previous one. Georgia attempted to make the transition between the two dream states shorter as she felt it was inappropriately long. However, when Alex and Isaac reviewed this, they felt it made the shot clunky and disjointed, when it was key that it appeared seamless. Isaac stepped in and re-cut the shot so that it was fluid, and added a transition that really gelled the two shots together.

Alex

Alex almost finished the storyboard this lesson, which means it can hopefully be finished for homework or early next lesson, and then Isaac/Alex can scan it in and make the animatic.

A2G3: Printwork ideas and concepts

Ideas for print work

  • Meat-shot of protagonist of the music video
    • Lines with saturated and de-saturated sections
  • Items that link with the music videos
    • i.e. the bottles on the table, the swords used later on.
    • Use the coloured pencils to create the look of two swords clashing(mock up in either Photoshop or actual photograph with pencils)
  • As Isaac researched with the George Ezra cover, a specific colour could make the character stand out from the rest of the image.
    • This could lead to a potential image of the protagonist standing in a section where the image is saturated, and the background or area surrounding the protagonist de-saturated.
  • The use of a 6 panel digipack, with a pocket for a booklet, would provide us with the space to create interesting visuals and create an artist context
    • The outer covers could be de-saturated, as is the external life of the character in the video, whilst the inside spread is highly saturated, referencing his inner workings, which are colourful and magical.
    • The booklet could contain interesting photographs of the characters and key items from the video, as well as contextualising the track (recorded for 'The Hunger Games') providing a blatant inter-textual reference and giving details about the artist.
    • Potentially lyrics could be used throughout it, or be given a page, as they are interesting as a poetic medium.
      • This would also work to establish a better connection between the consumer and Lorde.

How will they link to the video to form a cohesive brand?

  • The print work could link to the music video in the same way as Pure Heroine does with Royals, the composition of the shot matching that seen in the music video.
  • We found that artists related to Lorde normally had themselves on the cover. These artists are normally involved in the narratives of their videos; a piece of their narrative is on their album cover; we took inspiration from this & did the same.
  • Lorde normally wears dark colours in her magazine adverts rather than warm or bright colours, which reflects the tone of her songs & the tone of her cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World. This element of colour could link nicely to our music video and Lorde's star image. 

Which magazine would our adverts most likely be featured in?

  • Given the star image of Lorde, our adverts would potentially be featured in magazines aimed at teenage audiences.
  • Q Magazine would compliment our artwork and design the best due to the alternative nature of Lorde reflecting the prominent alternative nature of Q magazine.
  • However, a more mainstream styled magazine would also be appropriate towards Lorde's image. An example of a mainstream magazine would be Billboard magazine, a magazine that Lorde has featured in previously:
 

Mock up of all products:

    Georgia's (GP) Digipak Ideas

  •  The caterpillar could be any of the toys included in the video and the toys that the boy (that is out-of-focus) is playing with would preferably be the Lego men sword fighting.
  •  The toy in the foreground  would be in-focus, on a table and in colour (or saturated) whilst the rest of the shot would be black and white or de-saturated.

Georgia's (GP) Printwork Research

 

  • Lorde normally wears dark colours in her magazine adverts rather than warm or bright colours which reflects the tone of her songs and the tone of her cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World. She is also the focal point and centre of each of these campaigns. The extra-diegetic gaze is also used in all of the above magazine campaigns; in each of them her eyes are looking directly at the camera; this breaks the forth wall and constructs the second paradox (established by Richard Dyer) where Lorde is present and absent.

Similar-Artists-to-Lorde Magazine Ads

 
 
Marina and the Diamonds
  • In terms of the reading path, the audience are forced to start at the top of the advert (where the colour consists of lighter tones and the focus of the advert, the artist, is shown). An extra-diegetic gaze (which breaks the forth wall) is also present, thus relating to the second paradox established by Dyer - (Paradox 2 occurs) which draws the attention of the audience further to the artist before other content; this conforms to the conventional reading path of top-to-bottom.
  • Marina And The Diamonds have stuck to their brand by continuing with their grainy-imagery effect in this advert that is common amongst their album covers and adverts (this is their metonymic representation and shows that they have brand awareness).
 
Ashlee Simpson

  • The pop-punk genre of this artist is evident due to the gothic font, dark colours and dark clothing/ make-up (heavy eyeliner). Darkness connotes gothic-ness and is conventional of rock/punk.  
  • She is the focal point of the advert and is in the centre. This tends to be the general pattern with artists who fall under the conventional female 'star image'. However, the composition of the poster's typography and use of dark colours acts as a way of diminishing the stereotypical image.
What can we take from these adverts
  • We are going for a more narrative based advert but technically these adverts have parts of the artist's music video's narrative as the artists are almost always present in their music video narratives.
  • As we do not have Lorde available for the conventional meat shots as researched, we will have to rely on using a slightly more direct reference to our music video. Luckily, what we have filmed has the potential to be used for our digipak and advert.

A2G3: Progress Update 25/11/14

 
A screen-grab of the timeline of the bedroom sequence and beyond. The shots on the upper track are in need of reshooting, such as this shot which although beautiful doesn't end in a way that enables fluid continuity editing.

Isaac

Isaac analysed our footage and recorded which of the shots needed to be filmed again on Saturday as part of Alex's reshoot. He also reordered part of the bedroom sequence, changed the timing of the cuts to best fit the music and otherwise prepared information for Alex to use on the Saturday shoot.

Georgia

Georgia focussed on creating a relationship between the visuals and the music, but she also changed the cutting rate to make it more suitable for the atmosphere of the film. She did this by using the cutting tool to change the timing of clips. She also worked with Isaac to reorder the narrative of the bedroom sequence.

Gwen

Gwen has been acting as the main artist and designer of the six pane album cover which we have decided to use. She has created the exterior 3 panes of a mock-up cover using a black theme with carefully considered imagery that links to the music video, but also has a lot of other connotations. The group really likes the symbolism, but we don't think the 2nd pane's text fits the rest of the cover, and we are looking forward to experimenting with colour.


Alexander

Unfortunately Alex was unwell, so he could not attend the lesson. However, he still managed to give feedback on the printwork, and even began a post on the shotlist for Saturday's reshoot, which he will be filming on his own.

Monday 24 November 2014

A2G3: Progress update 24/10/2014

Over the weekend, Alexander filmed the shots that transition between the kitchen and bedroom scenes, and the entire bedroom scene. He was working on a very tight schedule of approximately one hour, so he feels like he may have missed some shots, or could have done some better. For this reason, Georgia and Isaac have been reviewing all of the footage and are very impressed with the vast majority of it. As with our other shoots, we have noticed a severe lack of wide/establishing shots, so this is one of the things Alex will have to get when he gets secondary shots this weekend.

In the meantime, Gwen and Alex are focussing mostly on the printwork, with Gwen drafting a six-pane mock-up and Alex assisting her. The mock-up is very time consuming as it requires a certain amount of photoshop work done to it to convey the basic idea. We also have multiple ideas we want to test out so this means even more time we need Gwen and Alex creating drafts. Alex has also been carrying out a lot of blog work, which is invaluable given the editing that preoccupies everyone currently.

Thursday 20 November 2014

A2G3: Progress Update 20/11/14

Today we continued with our respective assignments;
  • Gwen continued collecting and improving our ideas for the panes of the album cover, as well as developing the booklet for the album.
  • Georgia finished the rough cut of the outdoors reshoot and continued investigating magazine adverts
  • Alex continued with the storyboard/animatic which has proven to be a painstaking task. He also managed to get his first hands on experience with the video editing (as he is predominantly involved in Photoshop work instead) and he enjoyed re-ordering some of the clips in the first section.
  • Isaac assisted Georgia in the rough edit, and then took over to perfect the fine editing of the outdoors sequence. After Alex took over, he improved several blog posts and made sure we were up to date in the posts we had published.

IH: Ideas

Lorde's Album Covers

Whether we choose to imitate or oppose Lorde's image, we still need to have an understanding of her style. Looking at her official covers as well as certain fan-made tributes can help provide insight and clarity into our own ideas.
 

 
This is a fan made cover for her Pure Heroine debut album. Interestingly, we had exactly the same idea with the colour, except we were going to make a long rectangle of the image saturated at her eye level, and the rest desaturated (the same way they used colour we would use saturation).
 
 
This is another fan made album cover which caught my eye. It's one of the few covers which doesn't feature her face (this and the official Pure Heroine one), and the gritty old school style was very interesting to me. Perhaps investigating the use of old school cameras such as those available at Lomography.com. 

 
This is yet another album cover featuring Lorde's face. It's simplistic lighting and costume make her face more attractive and interesting. It's also worth noting that the tennis courts in the background connote her famous single, "Tennis Courts".
 

This album cover is unlike any of her other ones in that it is extremely plain. At first glance it appears like plain white text on a black background, but in reality it is a textured black background and the white text becomes more dirty and textured towards the right.


GW: Digipak Research

The concept of making a digipak begged the question of 'what is a digipak?' and prompted me to do some research into style and content of such a format.



From this research I have some ideas:
  • We could do a six panel digipak, which would allow us to link more strongly to the video and complete the metanarrative of Lorde
  • If time a booklet could be an interesting venture
  • the front image needs to be eye-catching, whilst linking to the other panels
  • The back must contain a barcode and copyright info
  • Both standard and conceptual work could be melded together.


Thursday 13 November 2014

IH: Post-production Update

Thursday the 13th of November

Georgia and I have been editing the footage from the first shoot and have now completed the kitchen scene. We also managed to create a rough cut of the outdoors footage which we originally intended to use as a model for when we reshoot on Saturday the 15th, in which we would perfect the shots and change the costumes. However, we recently came up with the idea where we would cut from the pirate scene to the Viking scene, but instead of using the inappropriate Viking footage, we would instead shoot a scene at night using a flaming torch and maybe a bonfire, and create a sense of loneliness, isolation and fear. This is of course far darker subject matter, but the visual possibilities of using fire and filming at night would definitely make it worth it.

We have also been considering changing the song in parts, for example cutting the song at the point where we change scene in the dream sequence and having a silent section, where Tristan would shout "Alex?!" etc. to enhance the idea of loneliness. We also think we will leave a silent section at the end of the video where Tristan wakes up in his room and leaves, i.e. the song would end with the dream sequence.

A2G3: Second Shoot Risk Assessment and Observations

Risk Assessment

Date of shoot: Saturday 15th of November, 2014

Location
Risks/Challenges
 
How we’ll deal with it

Protagonist’s bedroom
There will be toys everywhere, which could be potential trip-hazards.
 

 
Create a path in which the camera can be moved around without too much obstruction, or leave only part of the room full of toys, so that there is space for the camera and crew.
 

Kitchen
Lighting will probably not be the same as last time we shot
 
Use additional light as we did last time.

Outdoors
Potential mud and rain will most likely be a difficult element, for two reasons.
 
Firstly, the mud and rain will make  moving around a little more difficult and thus take up valuable time moving to and fro different parts.
Secondly, there is a high chance that we will not have the same lighting as we did on the first shoot.

If we plan on filming in the dark, we will have to be mindful of the ground around us, as we would during the day. Furthermore, our light sources could create a flammable risk.
Te environmental aspects will have to be dealt with the use of raincoats, wellingtons and umbrellas.

The lighting aspect is most likely the most important part of the reshoot. In order to get the same level of lighting, we could make use of

In order to counter the dangers of shooting in the dark, we have to carry with us electrical torches and a fire extinguisher, in case a fire should occur.

Observations

What we observed after reviewing the clips on the rough cut was that:
  • The ending does not quite fit with our concept, and thus we have to reshoot it.
    • We also found the last scene a little bit too inappropriate.
    • Costumes would have to be different.
  • An idea that Isaac came up with seemed like an interesting development from the last outdoors scene. When the protagonist passes by the tree (which acts as a transition), the time of day switches from day to night. This would add a much more sinister element to the narrative, as has been the plan all along. In order to shoot in the dark, we will have to adapt the camera to the low lighting. Luckily, there are tutorials for that all over the internet.

  • The kitchen scene is the longest scene of them all, leaving us with little time to create the change from reality to imagination. There are several ways we could get around this:
    • Shorten down the length of the kitchen scene in post production. This could mean that we lose some development of the narrative, but would also allow more time for the narrative to progress.
    • Alternatively, we move the music forwards on the timeline, so that we use the first shot as an establishing shot.
  • In order to create more time for the narrative to progress, we could also cut the song itself to leave a short 5 second gap between the reality and imagination sequence, most likely to make room for the transition.

What do we need to be aware of?

  • It is absolutely vital that we are efficient with the short amount of time we have to shoot, as our actor has an exam on the Monday after our planned shoot.
  • Keep an eye on the time, all the time. We want to make the most of the time that we have available, and do not have time to squander.

GW: Individual contribution to production

I attended the most part of the shoots- working around other commitments.

At the first extended recce, I acted as skin double in order to aid planning for composition of shots, and gave some input into lighting etc.

During the most part of the shoot, I often acted as Runner. Tasks included:
  • Carrying equipment, like tripods and lenses
  • contributing and giving ideas for costumes- also providing solutions to a few wardrobe malfunctions.
  • Collecting anything needed from the house and providing refreshments whilst on location outside
I also gave some ideas and talked through composition of shots with Isaac, and occasionally worked as focus puller in order to get the change in depth of field required. As well as this, I had to hold the separate light and reflective boards to aid with lighting.

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Mrs Fernandez Feedback #1

Well done group 3 - this blog provides evidence of excellence in all aspects of planning.  I have given you some individual feedback on your digipak analysis - please respond in the comments.


Gwen - your posts on joining the group are useful - can the rest of the group please comment on her summary of research and review some of her prior posts to ensure the research links.


Gwen - can you also post on your contribution to production during shoots.


As a group, in order to achieve high L4 planning, make sure that you are reflecting on the post-production process and documenting changes, progress, discussions and individual contributions.  These can be blog posts or video diaries.


Well done - an exciting video concept and I'm looking forward to seeing it develop.

Monday 10 November 2014

GW: Digipak Deconstruction


Amy Winehouse- Back to Black

 


Genre

  • Amy Winehouse's music was considered a combination of Jazz, Blues and R&B, and her popularity meant she entered the world of pop music with her alternative sound ( just like Lorde has done). The genre is emanated through the grungy, underground backdrop, connoting a commonly subversive/ moody sound.
  • Winehouse's appearance is alternative, retro inspired, as her music is- wearing slightly quirky clothing and winged eyeliner.
  • Colours are quite naturalistic, suggesting that she is amongst normality or of the people... the cold lighting demonstrates the lack of joy and warmth within the music of her genre.
Media Language
  • The artist is in accordance with the rule of thirds, centred in the frame, showing her prevalence
  • Her body language is somewhat confrontational, as she is looking into the camera and leant forward slightly, this connotes a level of power and suggests that she is directly addressing her audience within the album. Winehouse is very present (Dyer's star image, addresses one side of the paradox). This is juxtaposed by the fact she is slightly slumped and touching her hands together, which connotes a level of insecurity and gives some humanity to the character.  This element also links to her meta-narrative as a very troubled young woman.
  • The colder lighting is suggestive of a more melancholic stance.
  • The typography used on the album is slightly unusual, with a semi-3D artistic font, thus implying that the artist is somewhat unusual herself. The name is in a much larger font, highlighting the importance of Winehouse herself, and connoting that SHE is more important than the music adding to star image, his also links to the larger than life depiction of Amy Winehouse, who, at the time, was often in headlines and harassed by the media.
  • The prevalence of the name also suggests that she is a powerful woman, in contrast to the somewhat residual ideology of women being weak and vulnerable.
Meta-Narrative
  • Her iconic beehive is missing in this.
  • The album title itself 'Back to Black' (the track of this name was also released as a single) has heavy connotations in her meta-narrative. The phrase references the fact that she had been through a break up with her boyfriend, Blake, who had gone back to his ex, whilst she, heartbroken, went back to 'black' meaning drink, drugs and an eating disorder. This devastatingly difficult story was key within what made Winehouse such an interesting, poignant artist, it was referenced in her whole career. Today, the late Amy Winehouse is still intrinsically linked with this sort of destructive lifestyle, having had the media follow the story throughout her high profile career and having a tragic death thought to be due to her excessive lifestyle. Just her presence sells her product, as the consumer is so interested in discovering the artist and getting to know them and their story, as is put forward in Dyer's theory of Star Image.

 
Institution and Audience

  • This is a very simple digipak, designed to attract a wide variety of consumers, as she was popular among different reams of people. It would especially appeal to young people, probably in their twenties who have links to sub-culture and a more subversive attitude- though it was also popular amongst teenage girls who liked to sing as if they understood what was going on in the singer's mind and often copied elements of her style.
 

Link to Lorde
  • Lorde is also considered to be an innovative popular artist bringing an interesting sound to the charts and so would appeal just as widely as Winehouse.
  • The meta-narrative of Lorde is in high contrast to this artist, as she is cited as saying that she won't get into drugs because of her 'normal upbringing', so she may have a slightly cleaner overall image, whilst keeping alternative fashion within the image e.g. winged eyeliner.
  • Both woman are household names, and so the prevalence of name should transfer over easily, as well as the idea of some level of female empowerment- standing out more and making a name for themselves in a currently male-dominated industry.




Thursday 6 November 2014

A2G3: Progress update

We have over the half term filmed a large section of the music video, which we have since then reviewed and discussed. Furthermore, we have begun editing the initial rough cut.
  • One thing we noticed while reviewing the different shots was that we might have over-filmed the first scene in the kitchen. We aim to, in the final edit, cut down on the shots through either a faster cutting rate or the removal of some unnecessary shots.
  • The final section that we had filmed was not appropriate for the narrative of the music video. This may have been a result of the fact that we were running short on time to film and had to wrap up the scene too quickly, some decisions being made too rapidly. We have therefore decided to reshoot the last few shots
One challenge we will possibly face is the same level of time-constrictions, as our main actor will be busy through most of the weekends in November, as well as having to be in school on the majority of Saturdays.

Wednesday 5 November 2014

IH: Digipak Deconstruction

George Ezra

I have chosen to analyse the unique album cover for the artist George Ezra's debut album, "Wanted on Voyage".

Conventions

Music videos are notorious for there free form and lack of rules, meaning they are hard to compartmentalise into genres because they are so artistically liberating. On the other hand, digipaks appear to have common features that unite them within a genre.
 
From my research I have concluded that there are two main formulaic groups of album cover types:
  • A close-up of the artist which places the focus entirely on them as opposed to anything else in the frame. These are often used when an artist has a striking or iconic image, because you see the face and are interested before you read the name of the artist/album.

  • Or they tend to show a random scene which usually holds a deeper message, that does not feature the artist at all. This group also contains album covers which feature bands, as they aren't usually shown in meat shots such as the above examples, but arranged in an interesting way.
 
If an artist has established themselves and does not need to show their appearance in order to be recognised they often change to a more meaningful, artistic album cover. For example, Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon is arguably the most well known album cover ever made, yet The Beatle's Abbey Road cover is equally iconic despite it's lesser subliminal meaning.
 
 
George Ezra's album cover smashes both of these conventions and shows him in a medium long shot surrounded by other people. In this way it is unique as it is not a meat shot, and it shows many other (possibly distracting) people.

Media Language

  • Ezra is seen in a red shirt which singles him out from the rest of the crowd as no one else is wearing red. In fact, he is the only person wearing clothes of any vibrant colour, the rest are all dressed in greys, blacks and white. Once more this helps him stand out against the crowd.
  • Make-up has been used to make his skin lighter, which combined with the spot lighting on his face helps to separate him out and highlight him against the dull tone/colour palette of the crowd. A subtle effect, but one that means we see him quickly and recognise him.
  • Often the rule of thirds is used to create a visually pleasing aesthetic that stops the viewers eye from drifting off to the sides of the image, as it helps to control the reading path. In this image Ezra is positioned centrally in the image, which is highly unusual, however given his surroundings it is almost necessary to separate him from the rest of the people and position him as being important.
  • Ezra's acknowledgment of the conventions of digipaks and his subsequent refusal to conform to them shows that he has a postmodernist attitude which parallels his independent style of music, and alternative, zany music videos. All of these combined help to construct his star image as being an individual who acts outside of the standard forms and conventions.
  • No quotations have been used and the typography is very simple and plain. He uses that specific typeface across all of his logos on promotional material, which helps to create a recognisable brand image. The title of the album itself "Wanted on voyage" connotes exploration or discovery, suggesting he is on a journey of self discovery as a young man who is establishing himself in the music industry. Furthermore the idea of being wanted implies that he has now become a person of success and is wanted by people, for money-making, art or for friendship.
  • The people that surround Ezra also play a part in establishing his star image. We can see many different people in various outfits, which on their own make little sense. However, when considered as a whole, the wide range of people represent the British public. Taking this information, Ezra's positioning in the crowd and in the frame show that he is both part of the crowd, and yet he stands out. This relates to Dyer's idea of paradoxes, that artists are presented as being both ordinary and extraordinary.

Representation

George Ezra is an alternative, independent musician who has achieved some success in popular music charts as well as "indie" music channels. This means that he is seen as an indie figure, an artist who makes music for the love of music and not for the money, otherwise he would create music which is categorised as pop, which typically sells better. It's for these reasons Ezra has been positioned in a postmodernist fashion, acknowledging yet defying the conventions of the digipaks, which positions him in an indie way. This helps to establish his meta-narrative as an alternative artist, which appeals to people who have alternative views such as those who disagree with the industrialisation of the music industry, and the way songs are often fake and soulless now due to the use of autotune, so his music may sell better to people with these values.