Group- 29/11/10

Today we finished our second rough cut and showed it to Mr Fiveash and Miss Fernandez. We got very positive feedback as well as improvements we can make. We have been told that we should add more movement into the video through key frames, go through our lip syncing to double check it is exactly right and add in more cuts.
We now have a version of our video saved, however we are going to chop up a copy of it and take some risks to see whether it works out better or if not return to how we originally edited it.

Group - 2nd Rough Cut

Below is our 2nd rough cut, which has all been edited. We have uploaded it on facebook and asked for feedback. All the people who gave us feedback liked it, however one comment was that we should replace the shot when 'Florence' fallls. Some other feedback we got was to put in a faster cutting rate and to add in some more movement. In addition, some of our shots are not synced with the audio so this is something we need to sort out.

KG - DigiPak

I was having a couple of problems with my digiPak so I printed it out and assembled it and asked my audience. They liked the pack so far, especially the idea of a bow detail. They suggested a couple of small changes like changing the 1 and 2 to an A and B, like on her singles. They also said that a booklet wasn't necessary. But overall they were very positive and very pleased with the product.


Since Mrs Johnson helped Emma and Lucy finish theirs she suggested that I saturate my picture to match Emma's and make it more vivid, I have slightly but I think it looks too artificial which is not what Florence's band image is all about, so I have not done it as extremely as Emma. The only thing that I haven't put on yet is the license information or the label logos. So ultimately all the non-representational images.

I have done the inside 3 panels in a similar style. Using photographs from the video shoot to advertise the artist and her music.

I plan for the CD to go in the middle inside the circle. I then just wanted to have several pictures of Florence as obviously this album is all about her. The images show her playful side I feel, something that I think is a very strong characteristic with Florence, they all show her organic nature and her quirkyness.

The reason I have chosen the text is that I wanted to make it personal, I felt that it needed something. I chose the particular phrase 'love you long time' because when me and my friends met her in a few summers ago she signed my friends programme with that phrase. I felt that it was appropriate to include here.

Group- 26/11/10

Today we added movement into our video through zooming and pannning. We also finished our adverts and digipaks.

Group - Edit Feedback

We have put everything on our timeline now and have shown it to Mrs Johnson, her feedback was:

• Some of our shots are a little static, and so rather than cutting we should think about using key frames to get some movement.
• We could include more of the graveyard shoot as they are very strong shots.

Group - Editing

Yesterday 24/11/10, we had a real success with editing. We went from having only edited 30 seconds to after 3 hours of work having only 20 seconds left to edit. We decided to stop here as we thought it would be better for us to have a break and come back to it the next day, particularly as we had no idea what to put there.

Today, 25/11/10, we continued editing, trying to fill in the remaining 20 seconds. We are aiming to export our rough cut at the end of the week and over the weekend gather some feedback from our audience and make any amendments next week.

KG - DigiPak Update

I am still working on the digiPak and have nearly finished. I have not edited the 3 panels that are already posted further down the blog, I have just been working on the inside 3.

I have had a slight problem, my plan was to have the lyrics on one side, but there are too many that it doesn't look effective because having them small enough to fit means they are too small to be read clearly and so aesthetically and practically it is better not to have them. So I am looking for something else to go on that panel.

I am also considering whether or not to have a booklet, as we want to make the most use of all our photos but I am not sure whether this will be effective or not, I think I am going to ask the other group members and possible a small sample of my audience by showing them what I already have and asking for general feedback as well.

Group - Rough Cut Audience Feedback 1

We had to export what we had on our timeline so far today and show it to the class. This for us wasn't a lot of footage as we have had a lot of technical difficulties but we did have something to show.

The feedback was that our mise-en-scene and attention to detail is good and that our video has an overall style and feel of Florence, which is very promising.

The only criticisms were that some of it wasn't in sync, but we are going to perfect it all before we are happy with it so that isn't a problem. The other thing was that some of our shots were too long, which we as a group agreed with, there is obviously a difference seeing it on a big screen to those in editing, so it was beneficial and we have since changed that entire sequence we showed to the class, keeping only some of the same shots in there and make it a lot more choppy and quirky.

We think this was a successful exercise and hope to have another rough cut to premiere to our target audience soon.

Group - Rough Cut

Today we showed the class our first rough cut. Due to computer problems this was only the first 15 seconds of our music video. The feedback was good with people saying that they liked our attention to detail for mise-en-scene and costume. The only criticism was that the cutting rate was too slow. After we had got this feedback, we have put in a faster cutting rate and have now edited the first 40 seconds.

LS - Final Advert

Below is my final advert. I imagine that this would feature as a quarter of a page advert in the top right corner of NME. In the second half of 2009, the NME's circulation was 38,486 and attracts fans of the Indie genre.

ERT- Video of inspiration

A lot of shots that we have wanted to create and use are evident in Rhiannas video "Only girl in the world". For example the crane shots of her spinning (0.43 seconds) and the constant XCU of her face and features. As Rhianna is also a solo female artist like Florence and the it has similarities through the use of only her in the video, creating a sense of a strong empowered female. I really like the unusual cutting rate used in the video, it not only cuts between different locations but uses a lot of jump cuts as well as creating a sort of "rewind effect". It makes her movement look a lot more interesting, therefore making the video more interesting to watch.

feedback - CF

Well done - clear record of team work and your reflections on videos are relevant and thoughtful. Keep up the good work. Emma...?

ERT- Contribution to production

• We all played an equal part with setting up the mise-en-scene in all shoots. Whether this be Roseys costume, the set, Roseys make-up or perfecting the small details in the shots.
• I have done a reasonable amount of filming especially in the drama studio and graveyard locations.
• I have made a contribution to editting our music video.
• I have written out all of the call sheets and done all risk assements.
• I have emailed Mr Fiveash to organise taking out or bringing back equipment, as well as emailing to organise if there is room for us to come down in our frees.

LS - Florence's New Video

Since doing our research of videos, Florence has released a new video for her song 'Heavy in your Arms'. This video has a gothic feel to it, which is the atmosphere we wanted to achieve in our own music video. The use of black and white is something we considered for our music video but decided against the idea. Instead we used black and white balloons in the graveyard scene. There is also a lot of feet shots in the video and this is also something that we have used in our music video.

In reagards to things that we could use from this video that we have not already used is blurring some shots or putting a grain filter over them to make the shots have an old/gothic feel to them.

LS - My Contribution to Production

I have attended all shoots for the full amount of time and have carried out a range of tasks by doing this. These include:

• I have emailed Mr Fiveash a few times to ask for equipment.
  
• Outside PAC shoot - I helped set up the mise-en-scene and did some filming.
• Field shoot - Helped set up once again and did a bit of filming.
• Graveyard shoot - Organised transport to the graveyard, helped blow up and scatter balloons and I also did some filming which included the crane shot of 'Florence' spinning.
• Drama studio shoot - I did a lot more filming on this shoot which included the low angle shot of 'Florence' on stage. I also helped hang the photographs.
  

I have not yet done any editing but this is something I am going to hopefully do this week.

KG - Videos of Inspiration

I like this video because it's fairly simple yet it's exciting and interesting to watch, it also helps that the song is really catchy.

I like the use of animation and graphics, I think it is very effective and although I don't know whether it would work in our video it doesn't hurt to be inspired. I also like the transition between shots, the sort of swipe movement, I think it keeps the pace as some of the shots are fairly long, and it is something that we could do ourselves on premiere.

This video is similar to ours as it is all about the singer and there are several different costume changes, but it is cleverly shot in one location, which I know is to do with the narrative but is still effective visually, they have also thought about mise-en-scene, particularly with the messages written on the black board which is something that we have also spend a lot of time considering.

There is also a lot of camera movement, when it is the shot of him in the suit lip syncing the camera tracks in and out again, this is something that although we haven't filmed we may be able to do in editing as we have filmed on HD cameras so the quality will be better, so we might as well have a go if it is appropriate.

KG - Contribution to Production

• I did the majority of the storyboard.
• I organised the shoots as I had the calendar and everyone's timetables so I could decide who was free when and whether or not we were able to shoot, I then had to let everyone know and just remind them.
• I planned which location we would shoot in on what day, and supplied a large number of props whilst reminding everyone else to bring theirs in too.
• I emailed Mrs Johnson everyday when we were missing her lessons to go on shoots.
• I did a lot of the filming on the first two shoots, as well as setting up the set and our actress.
• On the third shoot Emma wanted to film as she has missed most of the second shoot, so I held the umbrella over her and the camera and helped to blow up the balloons and attempt to scatter them in the shots.
• On the fourth shoot I helped set up the set and helped frame a couple of the shots but I didn't do any filming as I was in the lighting dock setting all of that up and holding the spotlight when needed.
• I also took all of the photographs from every shoot that are being used for everyone's digiPaks and adverts.
• I have also done a fair amount of the editing so far.

Group - 22/11/10

Today we continued with editing, our software and hardrive is all sorted now and we are hoping to have no more problems. We are now catching up after this minor set back and are on our way to producing our rough cut, which we would ideally like to have by Friday.

LS - Advert Construction

I have had to change the photograph featured in the circle of my advert as I could not get the shot I wanted. Apart from the photo in the middle, the layout is going to remain the same, however I am exploring whether I can find a different colour to have as the background as I am unsure whether the black is to harsh.

Group- 19/11/10

Today we continued with editing and sorted out the problems with our track jumping.

ERT- Monday 15/11/10 shoot evaluation

We rearranged our drama studio to Monday 15th in which we had two hours to set up and film. Although we had already hung up the photos they had been taken down and got tangled, so this needed to be done again however we knew exactly what we were doing this time so it did not take as long as before and we were set up and ready with appropriate lighting within 40 minutes. Katie was in charge of lighting, I was filming and Lucy did the music as well as some filming towards the end of the shoot.
The shoot went really well and we got all the footage necessary as well as more, which was essential as the dramatic make-up and costume she had would have been hard to replicate. We did all the shots we wanted from the storyboard but we also saw an opportunity for many more in which we hadn't thought about. For example we got a really nice shot of her siting down through the photos, different angles of her face as well as XCU of her eyes and mouth which worked really well.

Group - 17/11/10

Today we captured our shots from the shoots last week. After looking at the footage from the graveyard, there is some that we won't be able to use because of the umbrella/crew appearing in the shot. However, we could use the shot from her walking around the gravestones and popping the balloons. We also looked at the footage from the drama studio which looks very effective with the photographs.

We now need to start properly editing so we can put together our rough cut.

LS - Advert Mock up

Above is my advert mock up (sorry about the quality, I had to take a photo of it as I don't have a scanner). The photo in the centre of the advert will be a crane shot of Florence wearing the dress, whilst spinning so the dress goes out like the photograph. In the end I did not include music reviews as there was no room underneath the photo but if I was to enlarge the advert to a half page or full page advert I would include reviews. I imagine this advert appearing in NME as this is the magazine that Florence features in.

Semiotic Analysis of Advert Mock Up

1. Identify the signifiers. What do they connote?
The photograph in the centre of the advert is of Florence spinning. The colours of the dress she is wearing connotes the circus making Florence appear to be fun and quirky. The circle shape of the photograph relates to her single cover for 'Dog Days are Over' as this too features a photograph in the centre in the shape of a circle. In the top left hand corner is Florence's logo. This is an important part of Florence's star image as it is featured on all of her album and single covers and therefore makes the advert recognisable as being hers. In the right hand corner of the advert is the record label Florence belongs to. This not only tells the fans which label Florence belongs to but also enables them to recognise artists who are part of the same label.

2. Juxtaposition
This advert constructs the image that Florence is an artist who is quirky and creates fun music. This is constructed through the use of the image of her spinning as the dress is reminiscent of the type of patterns used on circus tents.

3. What social myth is this advert conforming to/challenging?
The advert is reinforcing the social myth that women should wear dresses or skirts as they are seen is more female. This is because Florence is wearing a dress in the photograph. In reality, she is a wearing a dress because it creates a 'floaty' feel that coincides with the sound of her music and also Florence never wears trousers in any of her performances. In addition, trousers would not work in the same way as a dress in regards splaying out when she spins.

4. Indexical signs - what does the product become?
The product creates the impression that the person looking at this advert is unconventional. This is because many people associate the circus with being strange and featuring people who aren't part of mainstream society.

ERT- Friday 12/11/10

On friday we planned to finish filming in our last location, the drama studio. For this location we had a specific vision of what we wanted. Katie printed off roughly 30 images that she had privously taken and as a group we cut them out and attached them to string so that we could have them hanging in the shot. We got this inspiration from Taylor Swifts video, posted privously, and thought it would look really effective and work well. Unfortunately when we had set up a stage, hung the photos and were ready to start filming a group of teachers came in and said that the studio had been double booked and that it was necessary for them to have it so we had to leave.Although this has caused us a set back and means we will have to film at some point on Monday if it is free, altelast we know that it looks good and have the photos ready to hang up as soon as the studio is free.

ERT- Thursday 11/11/10 shoot evaluation

This shoot took place in our graveyard location, therefore being outside. Unfortunately on this day it was very bad weather with high winds and rain. However, because our video has a gothic era to it and the rain isn't evident on the camera we decided to go ahead with it and film.
The rain didn't actually cause any problems with how it looked on the camera but it did cause difficulties. Firstly Rosie, our actress, was wearing heels and with the ground being wet and slippery it meant she had to be extra careful and couldn't do certain things we wanted, for example spinning fast. Secondly as it was raining heavily to protect the camera we cut a whole in a plastic bag and put the camera through it as well as having an umbrella over it. This did work well and keep the camera dry, however in some shots a part of the bag or edge of the umbrella is visible. Last of all, a big problem we had was with our set. We had planned to decorate the graveyard with balloons, conforming to florences previous video themes. However, because of the high winds it was really hard to do this as they wouldnt stay in shot and were blowing into trees and popping etc. Although this was a set back we did manage to get some shots with the balloons which looked good so hopefully our footage will be useful. If when we watch the footage back we see that it hasn't filmed well we have left enough time to be able to reshoot.

KG - DigiPak Mock Up

I haven't quite finished it yet, I am doing a 6 page digiPak and as yet have only finished 3 sides. I am still working on the other 3 but I don't want to post them until I feel I am happy with them.

The image of Florence to the right will be the front cover and the image in the middle will be the back of the digiPak. The image to the left will be the image beneath the cover if that makes sense. It will fold out so that this side would be flat like this and there would be the inside covers as well with the cd on the other side of the back panel.

I wanted a strong picture of Florence on the front and I think even though she is not looking straight ahead this picture if effective. It almost looks like she is looking at her own name to the left of her head. Which brings me to the leading line. The vibrant red makeup is obviously what the eye is drawn to first, which is why I have continued it around the whole digiPak so as the consumer will follow the line all the way round and thus looking at every panel. So the eye is drawn to the red and therefore to her eyes and face, as her eyes are looking to the left the consumer follows her eyes to see what she is looking at, which is why I have placed her name in that space so that that is the next point to look at. The line is then followed round to see the tracks on the cd and back to front to be opened up.

I haven't placed the title of the song on the front cover because I felt it wasn't necessary as the red is so vibrant I didn't want it to look crowded. Because of the red guiding you around the digiPak I have put the title on the first inside panel so it is clear what the digiPak is for without overcrowding the front, which I feel needs to be primarily about Florence and ultimately this is about promoting her and her band image.

I have chosen to keep this very organic, by using natural colours such as brown and green, with the only exception being the red and that is because that colour is associated with Florence because of her hair and I wanted to accentuate that and manipulate it to our advantage.

I have chosen to keep the images very simple because we have chosen to have this as a single digiPak. But also because I was thinking about Dyer's theory of the absence and presence of the band, I feel that Florence is such a strong character and the video is so focused on her that the album cover needs to be associated with that but she doesn't have to be on every panel. I think it is important for her to be on the front for 'recognisability' and for promotion but for elsewhere I think it is more effective to have her absent. But there is still a link as the photos are still taken from our video shoots so any consumer that has seen the video will associate the photographs with that.

The font is the closest thing I could find to the font Florence uses on every other product she has released. I felt it was important to have the same font for her name as this is an iconic image for her and is associated with solely her. But I didn't want to copy the text from her album cover because I wouldn't have been able to manipulate and edit it in the way I have with the text. But I feel it is close enough for the point to be made.

The other font I have chosen because I wanted a font that was easy to read but also had a sort of hand written quality about it, keeping with the organic feel of the artist and because to me it connotes a sort of relationship, particularly on the brown paper background it seems as if it could be something written by Florence to the boy she is singing about in the song. Which is partly why I chose black and white for the text, for practicality reasons as well as it being aesthetically pleasing, but the colour black and white to some represent life and death and so there could be connotations therein for different individuals. Keeping with the idea of this being something written, looking at the back cover the red line could almost be a ribbon tied around the digiPak, I did consider putting a bow on it somewhere but I felt that was too much and decided against it, however if this was to be a real digiPak a special edition version of it could have a red ribbon around the outside rather than a red line drawn on the computer, but I feel it would have to be all or nothing, it couldn't be a drawn on bow it would have to be real.

KG - Deconstructing an Advert, Lesson 9/11/10

Analysing the advert for: Love is All - Nine Times That Same Song

I couldn't find a picture of my advert on the Internet and I didn't manage to take a photo so I have an annotated sketch to represent it.

By putting in the grid lines we can see that this advert complies with the rule of thirds as the album cover graphic is placed to the left of the advert rather than in the centre. This is then balanced out by the text to the right.

The leading line starts with the album cover as it is in mainly white against a black background, the eye is then drawn to the band name at the top to the right, the eye then works down the text to the website at the bottom of the advert.

Analysis of semiotics:

1. Identify the signifiers.
- The linguistic, iconic and non-representational signs.

The graphic continued on from the album graphic is that of birds in different sizes and either pink or white against the black background. These could represent a sense of escapism and flight, or perhaps some reference to the nature of the album, it is sometimes classed as a 'summery' album so the birds being present could reinforce that idea of warm seasons.
The font is in a typewriter style, black on white for practicalities I suppose and because it fits with the colour scheme of the album cover. The font being in this style makes the advert and album seem very make-shift and DIY, perhaps complying with the indie alternative image of the band, the idea that small bands have been album to make it as well as polished mainstream bands.
The album cover is in a collage style, as is the advert in a sense to fit with the album, this connoted the artistic creative nature of the band and perhaps the several layers and depth to their image and music.

2. Juxtaposition of signs = band image.

The juxtaposition of the signs and images on the advert mean that the band image is constructed as a creative quirky very make-shift band. Which fits with their indie genre and the playful nature of their music, the use of their colour scheme also hints at a darker undertone to their nature and their music beneath the playful exterior.

3. What social myth is this advert conforming to or challenging?

The only one I can really think of is that because it has a very sort of DIY feel to it as already mentioned, it reinforces the idea that it is not only the big labels and the big bands that can create successful albums. That the smaller bands with a different type and style of music are able to create and sell products in the contemporary media.

4. Indexical Signs.
- What does the product/advert say about the person consuming it?

This advert and album connotes an interesting alternative person, somebody creative and slightly quirky, perhaps somebody similar to the band's type of music and their style/image. It is helping to promote smaller bands and gives a sense that the person consuming this product is interested in smaller bands as well as the big bands, and that there is a sense of diversity in music.
The advert was printed in NME which also gives the same connotations of the indie alternative genre and the promotion of smaller bands, with a lot of emphasis on image.

Group - Audience Research

Some of our audience research is on our blog here taken from our pitch, in which we presented some of the results as graphs, however we didn't show all of our results and there is no explanation in the post, so we will include it here as well as presenting the rest of our results.

We did this research in order to find out what are audience is expecting from this video and whether or not there is any specific criteria we needed to meet. We also wanted to see what they thought about our concept and our initial ideas so far.

One of the main problems we have been having with our concept is whether or not to include more characters, so we asked our audience. 60% of people think that we should have extra characters, but when looking at their suggestions we can see it is to have several people to create a party like atmosphere such as seen in her Dog Days and Rabbit Heart videos. These being her most popular videos, the rest have generally been her alone in a studio, with the occasional video having a dance group which is something we definitely did not want from the beginning. For practicality reasons we said from the beginning that we didn’t want a lot of people in it but we didn’t mind having extras. Since our results we are thinking about whether to include other people. Certainly for the scenes in the drama studio and by the bench the actress will be on her own. It is the graveyard and field locations that we could use extras as our audience have suggested, but the idea we have doesn’t necessarily warrant extra people and they may look like they have just been included for the sake of it.

Because our video doesn’t have a narrative as such, it is more concept based we wanted to ask our audience whether or not this would be a problem for them. When asked how necessary do you think it is for the video to have a storyline 80% of people said that it wasn’t particularly necessary and only 10% said that it was vital. Meaning that so long as we do our concept well the audience should have no problems following it.
Our audience also agreed that it wasn’t necessary for them to understand the video so long as it wasn’t entertaining and visually interesting.

Because our main idea for this video was to shoot it in a graveyard, so as to have some link to the lyrics without being too illustrative. We wanted to see if our audience agreed with this location. Our results show that 90% of people feel this is an appropriate location, with the 10% that disagreed saying it was a bit cliché. However, if done effectively I don’t think it will matter.
Other suggestions for locations were fields or woods, of which we have chosen a field as one of our locations. We did consider some woods and visited a couple but then decided on the field location instead. Many of the options people suggested to us involved the place being empty which contradicts what they were saying in the previous questions.

We asked our audience if the use of black and white was suitable to this song, 80% of people agreed that it was, with the people disagreeing suggesting that bright colour should be used instead. What we plan to do with our video is to have elements of black and white like the photographs and possibly the balloons in the graveyard to fit with the gothic elements of the song, however we are not going to shoot our footage in black and white because we don’t think it would be appropriate. We may however consider shooting in a slight sepia tone to fit with the style of Florence. We all feel that bright colours are an important part of Florence and so wanted to consider that in her costume, hair and make up to contrast the gothic surroundings such as the graveyard, a sort of juxtaposition with the visuals.

Our results agree that our main target audience are females and in the 14-20 age bracket as these are the most likely to be interested in watching her music video, even though Florence's music does appeal to a wider and much larger demographic it is those that are likely to use our video for focused viewing that we are interested in.

ERT- Advert Mock-up

These 4 adverts are how I got to my final one. I have created these in different lessons and then come back to them and added or edited more. I think it shows well how I got to my final piece as well as showing how my knowledge and understanding has grown.

Group- 9/11/10

Today we went through semiotics and analysing digipaks and adverts. We all found this very helpful as it has reminded us of the detail we need to include when designing our adverts and digipaks.
We have also continued with editing and trying out different shots with different lines of the song. We are planning to do our next shoot on thursday 11/11/10 however it is due to rain heavily. Hopefully we will be able to get it done before the rain starts but if necessary we will have to rearrange for the friday.

LS - Process of designing Advert

Below is my rough idea (created on paint) for the advert for Florence's digipak. This is not my final idea and the final advert will be created on photoshop with my own images and more text.



















The image in the middle will be a crane shot of Florence wearing the dress photographed whilst spinning for the dress is around her. The use of the circle in the middle of the page is similar to Muse's advert for their album 'The Resistance'. The use of a circle is also used on Florence's single cover for 'Dog Days are over'. Florence's name is in the font that is used on all her album and single covers so I have used it on the advert as it is a recognisable logo for her fans. I have put a black box around the photo of what will be her spinning as this is a creative technique that she has used on covers for 'Dog Days are over', 'Lungs' and 'Rabbit Heart'. Underneath the photo, I will include some one line reviews of her album as this is used on a lot of music adverts because it attracts more people if the reviews are good. I will also include the logo of the record company she belongs to.

LS - Week commencing 08/11/10

This week we are planning to finish filming our music video. I think there are a few things that we need to decide on/plan before the end of the week so that we can ensure our coursework comes out as best as it can.

• In the graveyard we planned to use black and white balloons but has anyone got these balloons as without these our ideas for the graveyard won't work. Also we need to decide on a final costume for Florence as we don't know if the costume we had planned will fit her.
  
• For the shoot on Friday in the PAC we need photographs. Katie do you need us to send you anymore photos or print them off as you are the only one who can put them in the right format?
• If it rains on Thursday we won't be able to shoot in the graveyard. So if this happens, what day will be best for everyone to shoot on?
• We also need to upload our call sheet and risk assessment so we need to get them from the folder.
• Also has anyone got a specific font that they are going to use on their digipak/advert as I think it's important that we all use the same font so that our final pieces are all linked together in some way.

Group - Storyboard and Calendar

We did scan in the storyboard but as it wasn't very clear we have deleted it and are in the process of filming our animatic and posting it, as we have been unable to do so previously due to technical difficulties and illnesses. However, we are hoping it will be up by the end of the week.

Below is our calendar with all the dates we plan to film and edit so far, depending on how we get on some of these dates may change, but we feel this an effective way to organise our time. Particularly as mine and Emma's jobs mean that we don't have a lot of free time at weekends and so are unable to film then, so we need to organise shoots during the week and during free periods as much as possible.

KG - Photographs from Shoots

These are some of the originals from the shoots for use on the digiPak or advert. I've put them up so that you two can use them in your mock ups as we all need to make one.

Group- 8/11/10

Today we captured our footage from both shoots and started to put them into premier to edit. We also talked about which photos we like and want to use as adverts and in our digipak. We are all going to plan out these tonight and then compare them tomorrow.

Feedback #3

Girls - excellent planning and I'm excited to see your footage on Monday.

I can't find a post with your animatic or storyboarding on it - please post up the animatic ASAP on Monday. You really need storyboarding on the blog before the shoots...

LS - Shoot Evaluation (3/11/10 and 4/11/10)

On Wednesday (3/11/10) we filmed in the first location for our music video. During 3rd period we set up so that we could take advantage of the full 2 hours to shoot. Our shoot went very well, however a few problems did arise. Our main problem was that the wind kept blowing over our mise-en-scene which meant we had to keep stopping and restarting because we had to pick up the props again. Another problem was that people kept on getting into the back of our shots so again we had to stop and restart.

On Thursday (4/11/10) we filmed after school in the field. This shoot was more successful than the one the day before as the actress got much more into character and we now knew what we wanted to get out of the shoot. However, one problem we came across was that some of the public got in the back of the shots so we need to make sure we cut that part out of our video.

KG - More Photos

I have cropped some of the photos from todays shoot to the correct size. But have done nothing further, so we can add to them like obviously adding fonts, but also things like frames and graphics if it was appropriate. These are just some more possibilities as well as the ones from yesterday.

We could always create a booklet to go on the inside with all the photos we have, as there are some really good ones.

I'm not so sure about the first one now that I look at it again, but I thought I would include it anyway. I have edited it so that only her eyes are shown as I thought it was the most interesting important bit, but maybe there needs to be her whole face?

But anyway I am very happy with the next two I think they are both good photos and would work well as album covers, or even just as photos inside the album, and there is options for editing them like including frames and things and there are several places the text could be places.

KG - DigiPak Designs, further development.

After our shoot today, in which we took several photos for our digiPak, I have edited them slightly on photoshop. I am at the moment just playing around with ideas to see what looks good. Because we haven't actually yet thought about the connotations and linguistic devices we want to convey in our digiPak we cannot have any final designs or anything yet. But so far I have got some ideas, I find it easier to see something than to just write about it so that's why I have made these almost mock ups.

The next thing is to decide what and how we are going to create our digiPak and what we are going to go for the inside as we have only thought of the front so far. We also need to think about text and its placement as this is something I have not done.

Obviously we can use any combination of photos I have just put some together. The first has Florence on the back and absent on the front, I was thinking along the terms of Dyer. The second sees Florence on the front but not the back, again for the same reason. The third has her on both covers as I know that the cover I personally deconstructed has the band in every photo on inside the digiPak, so that may be something we want to think about.

We also need to think about the framing, any extra design features [like the black circles I have added on some], the text and placement, and the connotations and band image. Obviously we want to show Florence in the best possible light and want the album not only to promote her and sell but to reveal something about her.

Group - Planned shoot: 3/11/10

We are planning to shoot the first sequence of our music video tomorrow. The sequence with the arm chair and the furniture outside. We plan to do this period 2 to 4 inclusive. Period 2 and 3 will be dedicated to setting the location up, decorating, preparing ourselves and the equipment and familiarising ourselves with the storyboard. We will then film during our lunchtime and during period 4 if need be. We hope to film everything we need in this location during this one sitting so as to maintain consistency in lighting, weather, make up and set up as much as possible.

Limitations tomorrow will be the weather. As we are filming during the day we don't need to worry about it getting darker, it should be fine. The problem will be whether or not it rains. The forecast says it might rain but it is likely that we may miss it. We have to be optimistic but plan to film regardless. If it does rain, will we try and fit that into our concept, as we are strapped for time due to illnesses and missed time in the holiday it is vital that we record something tomorrow. We can however make the rain work as it will add to the Gothic feel that we are trying to achieve and depending on how heavy it is it may not be particularly noticeable on film, however it is something we may need to take into consideration tomorrow.

KG - DigiPak Designs

These are just some very quick sketches based on what we have been talking about. The plan is to on the front cover have Florence sat in the arm chair. This will be in the the first location of our music video, with the like sitting room set in the field. We are filming this sequence tomorrow and so will take our photographs for the digiPak then as well. We want to have the artist pretty much centralised, with the furniture balancing the picture out, but obviously we will take several different pictures so we have several options later on.

The plan for the back so far is to use one of the images previously on our blog:

We plan to crop the image so that the darkest graveyard to the far right is the edge. Or thereabouts at least. And possibly on photoshop slightly alter the opacity of the left side of the image so as the writing we are going to put on top is visible. But these are obviously things that can be changed depending on how it looks and we can make several different versions and select the best.

We are going to take a number of photographs from all of our shoots that could be used in the digiPak, as we are putting together a booklet as well we could always have behind the scenes of her video shoot if it were relevant, if this is a single digiPak as opposed to an album. But so long as we take several photographs we can play around and experiment with several different ideas as we go along.