Problems

There have been many problems with editing our music video. In our first draft we attempted to use Premiere but it didn't work properly for us, causing us to do the draft on Windows Media Player instead. After the draft was completed, we decided that we were going to edit the final of it on Premiere. However, there was another problem with the software which we were  unable to find the cause of or the solution to. Now we are in the process of uploading the videos onto the Macs and we will have to start from scratch.

We have decided that we are going to use simple editing for our music video. There will be no effects, besides perhaps certain parts sped up/slowed down to portray an awkward or tense atmosphere. For example, when there is a shot of the two people holding hands, we are going to slow that down to get across how nervous the couple would be feeling. The only sound we are going to be using is the Regina Spektor song, with no special effects on this either. The reason for the simplicity is that we want it to emulate raw emotion rather than wrap things up and add too much of an emphasis onto every aspect of the video. I think that in doing this we will make the video more aesthetically pleasing for the type of song that it is.

Filming over the week

On Sunday, we did the all the filming for our main artist. What me and Ella decided to do was get our artist to sing as much as the song as possible, we did this several times so we could use the best of the shots for our final video. We tried many different angles but made sure that the camera was at the same distance away at all time. We also filmed Ella's and Hannah's part together too; this was where we finally decided to film this part inside as the weather was not too good and we did not have the locations that we desired, however we worked effectively by using our storyboard all the way through.

Today, I completed the filming of myself and my sister. As Ella was unable to make it, it was a challenge for me to film it by myself, so when I filmed myself my sister helped me do this by making sure the camera was in the same position every time we filmed something and also started and stopped the filming at the correct time for me. When I filmed, I had to make sure that the camera distance was the same when we filmed on Sunday and that the lighting was bright- this was achieved by using advice and having 3 different lights on, to make the person faces clearer and brighter. I also made sure that both myself and Sophie were appropriately dressed and looked similar as the role was to portray sisters. To do this, I made sure that our hair was clipped the same way (this makes us look similar) and I also used make-up to make my eyes stand out- another feature that is similar.

As I was filming alone today, I had to use my judgement to see whether or not the lip-syncing was good enough or not. Some shots had to be filmed several times and in the end, I made sure both myself and my sister were actually singing (this can be heard on the camera too but we can get rid of that during editing). Overall, I feel today was a good success and during tomorrows lesson I hope that me and Ella will be able to get a fair bit of editing complete, however I'm unsure how much was done during the two lessons on Monday as I was ill.

Final Filming Arrangements

Jemma and I have decided that we are going to film all of myself and Hannah's parts tomorrow after school, all of Jemma and her sister's parts on Saturday and then all of the artist's on Sunday. We are going to use the ones that have me on  my own in as they are the best light and we don't have time to waste re-filming parts that don't need to be re-filmed.

The props that we will need are:

• Tripod
• Camera
• iPod (for the music)
• People
• Trinkets
• Storyboard
• Couches

Editing ideas

From this unofficial music video, towards the end they use trinkets to show the relationship between the couple. In the video they do this by using a split screen of 3/4 different shots and use a close up of the trinket placed next to the person it belongs to. In our draft, as the trinket was not so clear, we have decided to take close up shots of each trinket, and then put them in a spilt screen (if possible with the editing software we're using) with a close-up of the person who the trinket belongs to.

Jemma and I have decided that we are going to re-film everything on Sunday 13th and Sunday 20th. We plan to edit all of it in all of the following lessons up until the deadline. By having these dates set we are giving ourselves plenty of time to edit along with any spare time after school, if we need it, to re-film extra parts. I think we will be able to get everything re-filmed on both of the Sundays though, and we are going to ensure that it is how we visualised this time.

Final poster and digipak

I have now completed both of my posters and digipak, however, at the moment I am having difficulties printing the poster in A3, as the font and picture goes blurry. For now, I have printed it in A4.

Final Digipak and Poster

Photos for digipak inside

Changes to digipak

On the digipak, I used the grids to make sure that the panels of the digipak were symmetrical. The only thing that needs to be changed now is the image of the hand with the neckless in. I took new photos for this and will today make the necessary changes. I also have to make sure the digipak font matches that of the poster. I am keep the front of the digipak like this as I feel no changes need to be made.

Digipak idea.

For my digipak, I decided to take several photos of one of the trinkets that is going to be used in the video and thought it could go on the inside panel of my digipak, however I'm not too sure if this will work as it may be viewed as being too simplistic or it just may not look right at all.

At the moment, I'm unsure if this idea will work, however I will try it and see if the brightness needs to be changed at all and see if adding any colour to the background will work. If not, I shall have to think of another idea to use.

Changes to Digipak and Poster

As I originally wanted an artistic element in my digipak and poster, I have decided to paint something for them. I first wanted to paint one side of the artist's face and make it blend, and the next idea I had was to paint a black tree, with a single falling leaf on it; 'One happy day for every falling leaf you catch.' This will also nicely link to the album as there are songs on it titled 'One Happy Day' and 'A Falling Leaf.' I think that the artistic element fits the genre, so I am going to paint it and see what it looks like. I wanted to paint the leaf gold, as that is the colour of the leaves when they fall in Autumn and if you say something is 'golden' you are basically saying that it is special. The other colour was a blue sky with white clouds, as was on the cover of Regina Spektor's Far album art, which was a close reference to Magritte's art.
The tree that I am going to paint is going to be similar to this but minus the leaves:

It is the general shape and size of the one above.

Changes to digipak & poster

So far, the only changes I have made to my digipak front cover is the font (this will also be used for the poster to show continuity) I have also made the artist face appear slightly bigger and moved it more into the centre, however I'm not sure if looks better like this or when it was a little more to the right.

The font that I have used is from dafont.com and is a victorian lookalike font I found using my teachers suggestions.  I feel this font is the one that goes best with the type of genre of music, this being as the others on dafont appear to be too heavily black or with too much drawing details over the lettering. I have also used this on my poster.

The changes I have made to my poster is made the image slightly bigger on the page and I have also changed the font to match with the digi pac. I also put the album name in the centre under the artist name, as I feel it looks better when placed underneath, and is the 2nd thing you read.

I also only have one review on my poster, however I'm unsure of this style for my final piece as I feel it looks too plain. I have kept the HMV logo at the bottom of the page and again made this smaller as this isn't the main focus.

More changes: Font

After I posted my three drafts earlier, my teacher pointed out that my font still wasn't correct for the type of theme to match my music. After looking at the example he left in the comment, I used dafont to try and find a font similar to the one left in the example.

However, the black across the top was not suitable for my poster or digipak design, so in paint I erased the line away from the font and ended up with this result:

At the moment, this is the closest that I could find to the one given in the example. I like the idea of using this font, but I'm not sure how good it will look in the red so I may need to consider using an all black font colour.

Chosen Fonts

The font that I have chosen for both the 'Isabella' on the poster and the full name on the digipak is the one that follows:




I have chosen this as I think that it has more of a feminine, folk feel which would be most suited to the artist. I also needed to ensure that the font type was the same on both; on the draft this was one of the things that I needed to change. This therefore will develop consistency and make the final piece look more professional.

The font that I have chosen for the record company name I made up is the one that follows:

I think that the font that I have chosen for this also looks professional, as it is crisp, clear and relatively simple, but not dull.

Poster drafts

As we now have more time, I have done 3 separate posters to see which one works better. The first and second posters use the same layout, however, in the second poster I have moved the image across to the centre and made all the font black. I'm not too sure if the whole poster using black font works, as the red lipstick still stands out on the image which is used.

For the third poster, I kept the image in the centre from the second draft and placed the text around it, keeping the artists name at the top. I changed the artist name back to red to match the lipstick used in the photo. I then decided to add a sale date for the album, and add the name of the album underneath. I also kept in one review, and then put the name of the record company and availabilty of the product in grey- however, if I decide to use this one, I would make that font black to stick with a white, black and red colour scheme.