Our video, magazine ad and CD cover are very alike. Not only do the compliment the same dark theme and undertone which we've tried to bring across to each of them but they also add a little something to themselves as individual products. The music video shows the performers and that stands as one of the main focal points of the video. As a result we tried to make them focal points of the magazine ad and CD cover too but didn't want to sell the performers but sell the product.
We blurred them into the background and played around with the imagery around it for the CD cover. Not only this but we also implemented the idea of being On Call with the use of the phone numbers on the CD cover to try and subliminally tell the person who sees the album what the song is about. The use of dark lettering and colors with a different amount of themes and color use helps the CD cover to sell itself with the video meaning no matter which you see first you'll kmow that the second belongs with the other.
The magazine cover was tricky as we initially took the On Call title and tried to contrast it with a hospital, like a doctor being On Call. However, we then realised that this would not make sense and be understandable when put a long side our other pieces of advertising products. Therefore we decided to keep it simple with the same tone as the CD cover and Music Video. We ended up using similar lettering and font style but bent it to make the more important information such as album name and band name stand out, the use of coloring enabled this too. We used red to connote the slitting of the wrist. However we made two ads as initially planned, one had the fight scene from the video in the background within the two performers to subliminally get across the fact there is violence involved in this product. The other has the image of an audiance to get across that we are popular despite our niche take on. We wanted to get this across to connote our rock and rebellious side as well as make a stand for what we are like on stage, like real rockers.
Overall, all three products highly compliment each other with each having the same dark tone but a different approach with some similar aspects. Although we get across the dark side and violence in each product with some subliminal messages those messages are still subliminal and not that bad or elusive. We do this by including the performers heavily in each, especially in the magazine ad and the music video. We therefore state that the performers are hardcore and out of control rather than the product, and even though the product is also the performers as well as the music, we still want that bit of rebellion in each as we are rockstars. Therefore settling on the same tone and theme was essential to get it across on each product the compliment one another.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Magazine Advert
We initially wanted to do a two page spread ad but had a few difficulties in doing so so therefore we were torn between that and a one page ad. As a compromise we made two different ads and allowed the public to vote on which one they liked the most and matched with the rock/touring theme. The following is what we created.
Here I got a picture from a real Kings of Leon concert and made it the background, the reason for this was because if someone who didn't know Kings of Leon saw a crowd as large and vibrant as this would realise that they must be big and would make them eager to see how good they were. I also decided to keep to the dark black and red theme which was seen in the video with the text to keep everythin consistent and therefore professional.
We have decided to use this ad because we think it will sell the album more efficiently.
Two Page Ad
This is one of our final versions of the magazine advert and is created to be published as a two page magazine advert. The design has taken screen grabs of the actual video and intertwined them together with a dark theme to make them in sync with the video. The use of colors on the title is to emphasise the key aspects, in red, with the white reading "Featuring the hit new single" as is expected with most adverts to have. The popilarity of Facebook was the inspritation to add a facebook link with a the reference to a Kings of Leon page so fans can follow us. I added the stores such as HMV, Amazon and i-Tunes as these are the most popular options for purchasing music in general.
Single Page Ad
Here I got a picture from a real Kings of Leon concert and made it the background, the reason for this was because if someone who didn't know Kings of Leon saw a crowd as large and vibrant as this would realise that they must be big and would make them eager to see how good they were. I also decided to keep to the dark black and red theme which was seen in the video with the text to keep everythin consistent and therefore professional.
We have decided to use this ad because we think it will sell the album more efficiently.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Joe's Overall Project Analysis
I was in charge of the digi pack within our team. To produce good quality work i needed to first become familar with Photoshop and also research thoroughly into how professional CD covers are made and how they are so fitting with their genre of music. This was quite difficult and I had to put alot of effort into making the CD cover look genuine. Also, compared to last year we didn't need to produce any photoshop work so this was more challenging. Also, i played a brief role in the performance within the band section of our video. This meant that i would have to learn the notes for the whole song in order for it to look professional. Although all this was quite challenging i really enjoyed taking part in this process and believe that we have worked to our very best potential and the work shows this.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
John's Overall Project Analysis
Playing the male protagonist in this video production was very challenging due to me having the main part I had to act up to the part to full potential. We had to do a number of takes and shot to get my scenes up to scratch and video fit it was hard because I'm not usually doing acting roles so it was hard to keep a straight face but after days of practice I finally mastered the skill of performance and maintained it too full potential. I really enjoyed being a part of this production because I got to show my full potential and acting skills even though I've not had previous experience and just great being part of a team.Overall i thought the entire production and all aspects in this process went very well from the actual video production to behind the scenes e.g feedback. Compared to last year this production was more challenging as last year consisted of a short film opening not much thinking,imagination and acting had to go in it but this year a lot of acting and thinking had to go into this in order to achieve a great satifaction and a great music video.
Koceila's Overall Project Analysis
Overall I thought the entire production and all aspects of all the processes went well. Being the director of the video I think I learned quite a lot in how difficult and fun creating something as ambitious can actually be. In comparison to last year it was a lot more difficult as the work load was even greater for such a short amount of time. There were a lot of setbacks, as anyone would expect in a production, but we managed to overcome them. I enjoyed the entire thing and I greatly enjoyed directing too and found it a lot more challenging to my role last year of playing the protagonist. Editing this year, however, was a lot harder as there are a lot more technical aspects we wanted to pull of and I believed it worked well and probably is, as a video, better then last years for me.
Friday, 9 December 2011
Our Final Music Video
This is our final version of our music video with all the changes made put in place.
How did you use media technologies in the constructions, research, planning and evaluation stages?
The 'Directors Commentary Guidline' (Written Document) can be found beneath. This is what I had typed to use within the commentary but for restrictions in time and how fast the video is paced I could not fit everything in.
We used a low angle shot to commence with to show our male leads dominance in the relationship.
The two shot that followed was to show their unity within the argument, however here we had to speed up the slap due to complaints that it was not authentic.
We adapted the shaky-cam style to film the vocal performance and give it that niche complex look.
With a lot of filters we managed to get the bass section to seem more low key compared to the high key lighting at the start, black and white is what we settled on.
The zooming in effect upon the guitars and the fact it was edited to appear dark was due to the dark nature of the riffs being played.
We gradually changed the camera shots to go close and closer towards our male leads face to finally get to the point where he cringes at the taste of the vodka, a key shot to show he is not used to drinking.
The editing of the two eyes as a pair was to connote that the relationship showed in the video wasn’t over, as they are still as one.
We made the flash back parts brown and filtered to allow the audience to see that it was obviously just a re-cap and not a mis-use of the same shot.
This was to contrast between him not hitting his girlfriend and due to alcoholism he hits the stranger.
We initially applied focus upon the knife, then we layered the vocals over it to not make it obvious as to what was actually going on before filtering it out to a very dark red to still hide the knife but imply to what is being done.
The P.O.V shot is too allow the audience to view life through the male leads eyes and reflect upon how dizzy he felt and sick, this was also done by the filters, contrast and shaky approach.
The guitar solo was done with the vocals still visible to not lose the continuity of the lead singer.
We also had to implement parts of the story into it too as it is a slightly lengthy solo so did that with layering it on the beat while gradually zooming in the image on the editing suite to make the focal point the guitar.
We added the guitar riff part in-sync with the beat to add that extra feel of our video being heavy and powerful.
The stop-frame animated section is to show the guitars, that represent their relationship, splitting up before we show them die together using the split-screen technique to also show they die as one couple.
Our overall use of technology was mainly used during the construction stages. As the video and album itself proved most useful with the likes of technologies such as Final Cut Pro or Photoshop it was essential to have them. However, planning was not very dependant on technology and the main part which would have needed it would be internet access, which in todays world isnt very hard to come across. Finally, evaluating must require technology as without the use of programmes like FCP or PS we could not achieve such standards of work that can be discussed and argued through our evaluations.
In what ways does your media product use, devlop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Our video was initially inspired by 'Ed Sheeran - The A-Team' and the way it shows a hard, brutal yet honest life in a way that captivates the viewer and keeps them interested in the story thats being told. The black and white feel and the gritty urban life made us want to do something similar. The song Virgin by Manchester Orchestra was also an inspiration as to how a very good rock song, one similar to that of On Call, had such an artistic music video that overlapped a variety of ideas that intertwined with each other to create an Art House music video that lends itself to a niche audience.
We use many things that are similar within our selected genre in our video. Taking into consideration Kings Of Leon - Mollys Chamber where there is a lot of focus upon the performance and effects as well as Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody that as well as shows the band performing there is also a narrative side to it that is more mellow and in your face when compared with Mollys Chamber. It is expected to see solo's on the screen if the song consists of a solo and, taking into consideration Metallica - One, which is heavily focused upon the artists there is also a heavy focus on the artistic side of the guitar playing and solo's which we wanted to get across in ours too.
Goodwins Theories
Our video does follow Goodwins Theories for a typical rock video. There are not many links to the visuals and lyrics as such but there are a few hints and pointers to a few aspects as found in some rock videos, mostly that of Green Day.
However there is a strong link between the music and the visuals as found in rock songs as its been edited to the beat and certain aspects are done to fit the tempo of the story as well as that of the performance itself.
There is also no intertextual reference and not much is found in rock videos as they attempt to be independent and avoid the main stream market which is what he have attempted to do.
The tricky one was the notion of looking. Even though not many videos in rock objectify woman as they focus more on the performers when woman are present they do make them look provocative most of the time or show them in a bad way, like in the music video Stacy's Mom by The Fountains of Wayne.
There is not as much voyeurism as there is in rock in comparison to other genres, so we kept it that way. Although some music videos, such as the one for Use Somebody, do consist of an insight into the artists lives we kept within the same style as the majority of the rock genre and decided not too.
Our video is a cross between performance based and narrative. Although most rock videos are mainly performance based a few in recent years have attempted to tell a narrative so we wanted a cross between both so as a result we did both.
We use many things that are similar within our selected genre in our video. Taking into consideration Kings Of Leon - Mollys Chamber where there is a lot of focus upon the performance and effects as well as Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody that as well as shows the band performing there is also a narrative side to it that is more mellow and in your face when compared with Mollys Chamber. It is expected to see solo's on the screen if the song consists of a solo and, taking into consideration Metallica - One, which is heavily focused upon the artists there is also a heavy focus on the artistic side of the guitar playing and solo's which we wanted to get across in ours too.
Goodwins Theories
Our video does follow Goodwins Theories for a typical rock video. There are not many links to the visuals and lyrics as such but there are a few hints and pointers to a few aspects as found in some rock videos, mostly that of Green Day.
However there is a strong link between the music and the visuals as found in rock songs as its been edited to the beat and certain aspects are done to fit the tempo of the story as well as that of the performance itself.
There is also no intertextual reference and not much is found in rock videos as they attempt to be independent and avoid the main stream market which is what he have attempted to do.
The tricky one was the notion of looking. Even though not many videos in rock objectify woman as they focus more on the performers when woman are present they do make them look provocative most of the time or show them in a bad way, like in the music video Stacy's Mom by The Fountains of Wayne.
There is not as much voyeurism as there is in rock in comparison to other genres, so we kept it that way. Although some music videos, such as the one for Use Somebody, do consist of an insight into the artists lives we kept within the same style as the majority of the rock genre and decided not too.
Our video is a cross between performance based and narrative. Although most rock videos are mainly performance based a few in recent years have attempted to tell a narrative so we wanted a cross between both so as a result we did both.
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Interviews
The following interviews were spontaneous and done right after the final moments of shooting to keep the people involved still pumped with their thoughts on how everything was. At this stage they didn't know anything about the final product, especially the first group of extras, so it was interesting to see their thoughts on something they didn't know anything about.
The director, producer and protagonist interviews were filmed directly after we had finished the project and done all the interviews and were not 100% spontaneous like the others. We wanted these questions to be a lot more essential so we spent a little bit of time contemplating and navigating our way around them, the answers were not planned. What we finish with is a set of valuable answers to some important questions that raised pressing issues about our video. Some moments were left in to show that despite the fact we were working hard and attempting to do a serious piece of work we still had fun which was just as important and we showed this by leaving those moments within these interviews.
Our Music Video Analysis
Artists - Kings of Leon
Title - On Call
Genre - Rock
We produced a linear video with typical conventions or any rock music video from the offset by implenting both a performance based as well as narrative based video with some art-house aspects to create that niche feel we intended to produce.
Locations - The locations used are representative of the typical youth/urban environment. We used Manchester City Center (a typical youth style environment) as well as various alley ways and walls too. The gritty feel is accentuated by our locations and is timid at the beginning as the video commences within the house to allow the crescendo within the video and our imagery to build as the song went on.
Lighting - At the beginning the lighting is high-key and begins the opening sequence as such. However within the performance sections the lighting was darker and low-key and this theme continued throughout unless the female lead is being shown. This is to contrast the slitting of the wrist with the nice environment and provide a strange emotional feel.
Editing - The editing begins slowly and then builds up pace. Its pretty hectic and there are a lot of overlaps and transitions to blend the romance between the two characters with the editing itself. Stop frame animation was used and had to be edited frame by frame as well as the fact it had to look fluid and co-ordinated.
Graphics / FX - The FX used consisted of filters (such as the red filter to connote the female slitting her wrist). There are various boxed pieces of video that allow the continuity of the vocals to continue yet not disrupt the actual flow of the narrative and/or performance.
Goodwins Analysis
Genre Characteristic - The genre of rock is demonstrated through many aspects from the performances of the musicianists to the focus on the guitar solo at on point. The niche look and feel to the video with all the filters and effects give it a independant look from other rock videos which is what a rock video must attempt to do. There is a lot of focus on the performers and the story is strongly based upon violence.
Close up of Artists - There are a lot of close ups of the artists within the video which is very common for a music video based upon the genre of rock. Throughout the vocalists, bass player and guitarist are all facing the camera and performing towards it so you can see there face.
Notion of Looking - There is not much objectification of woman as we intended for the woman to not look provocative as its not the kind of video and story we wanted to show. The woman is also not the cheat in the video as we didn't want to be typical in that aspect. Despite this the woman in our video is represented as a liar and emotionally unstable therefore slits her wrist.
Intertextual Reference - There is no intertextual reference within the video as we did not intend to be associated with another piece of work which is common in a rock video.
Props - The props used in this video are a vodka bottle, guitars, knife and various hats and items of clothing. The mis-en-scene is typical of the rock genre yet the vodka and the knife are not so. However we wanted to tell a violent realistic story that is a bit hyperbolic so we settled on those props due to the story we wanted to tell.
Craig Davis Analysis
Relationships Between the Lyrics and Visuals - There and not many links between the visuals and the lyrics at the time of the lyric. But there are a few that do act as a cataphoric reference to various parts of the song. For example the lyric "Im gon'brawl" does link with the fight that happens towards the end. The one visual that is linked with the lyrics at the specific point is "If you call me now baby I'd come runnin" where one of our extras begins running when the female lead needs some help.
Title - On Call
Genre - Rock
We produced a linear video with typical conventions or any rock music video from the offset by implenting both a performance based as well as narrative based video with some art-house aspects to create that niche feel we intended to produce.
Locations - The locations used are representative of the typical youth/urban environment. We used Manchester City Center (a typical youth style environment) as well as various alley ways and walls too. The gritty feel is accentuated by our locations and is timid at the beginning as the video commences within the house to allow the crescendo within the video and our imagery to build as the song went on.
Lighting - At the beginning the lighting is high-key and begins the opening sequence as such. However within the performance sections the lighting was darker and low-key and this theme continued throughout unless the female lead is being shown. This is to contrast the slitting of the wrist with the nice environment and provide a strange emotional feel.
Editing - The editing begins slowly and then builds up pace. Its pretty hectic and there are a lot of overlaps and transitions to blend the romance between the two characters with the editing itself. Stop frame animation was used and had to be edited frame by frame as well as the fact it had to look fluid and co-ordinated.
Graphics / FX - The FX used consisted of filters (such as the red filter to connote the female slitting her wrist). There are various boxed pieces of video that allow the continuity of the vocals to continue yet not disrupt the actual flow of the narrative and/or performance.
Goodwins Analysis
Genre Characteristic - The genre of rock is demonstrated through many aspects from the performances of the musicianists to the focus on the guitar solo at on point. The niche look and feel to the video with all the filters and effects give it a independant look from other rock videos which is what a rock video must attempt to do. There is a lot of focus on the performers and the story is strongly based upon violence.
Close up of Artists - There are a lot of close ups of the artists within the video which is very common for a music video based upon the genre of rock. Throughout the vocalists, bass player and guitarist are all facing the camera and performing towards it so you can see there face.
Notion of Looking - There is not much objectification of woman as we intended for the woman to not look provocative as its not the kind of video and story we wanted to show. The woman is also not the cheat in the video as we didn't want to be typical in that aspect. Despite this the woman in our video is represented as a liar and emotionally unstable therefore slits her wrist.
Intertextual Reference - There is no intertextual reference within the video as we did not intend to be associated with another piece of work which is common in a rock video.
Props - The props used in this video are a vodka bottle, guitars, knife and various hats and items of clothing. The mis-en-scene is typical of the rock genre yet the vodka and the knife are not so. However we wanted to tell a violent realistic story that is a bit hyperbolic so we settled on those props due to the story we wanted to tell.
Craig Davis Analysis
Relationships Between the Lyrics and Visuals - There and not many links between the visuals and the lyrics at the time of the lyric. But there are a few that do act as a cataphoric reference to various parts of the song. For example the lyric "Im gon'brawl" does link with the fight that happens towards the end. The one visual that is linked with the lyrics at the specific point is "If you call me now baby I'd come runnin" where one of our extras begins running when the female lead needs some help.
Shot List For Our Video
Our video consisted of the following shots:
- Low angle shot at the beginning to show our male leads dominance in the relationship.
- A low angle two-shot is used to show both characters together both being dominant.
- We then use a panning shot to show the male lead walk away.
- Shaky-Cam is used and begins with an medium shot that gradually becomes a close-up.
- An long-shot is used to show the extra go towards our female lead.
- We then move to an extreme close-up of the lead singer.
- Then we have another low angle shot / two-shot.
- The next shot we used is a tracking shot of the extra running down the road.
- We then go from a long shot and gradually move to a medium and then close-up.
- We then have an extreme close-up of the performers eyes.
- We later use a P.O.V (Point Of View) shot to show life through the eyes of the male protagonist.
- We then have a medium shot for the guitar solo and following bass line shot.
- There is then a long shot as our male lead walks around the wall to show the setting.
- We use an over-the-shoulder shot to show one of the extras attack our male lead.
- There is another low-angle shot, however, this time its a P.O.V shot to show how the gang is over-powering the male protagonist.
- We then finish with a high-angle shot of the two dead leads to show how they have been dominated by themselves and their life.
Feedback From Facebook
David Trevor
"It's pretty sick"
Amogh Patil
"Its really good"
Abu Baker
"I really enjoyed it"
Mags Tanev
"Your video is so good!"
Courtney Reed
"You guys have done a really good job"
Fay Sedgwick
"This is rather brilliant"
Elizabeth Holland
"Your video is really good, I like it"
Nacera Medane
"Bravo, c'est tres bien" - (Congratulations, its really good)
Sam Powell
"Great video"
"It's pretty sick"
Amogh Patil
"Its really good"
Abu Baker
"I really enjoyed it"
Mags Tanev
"Your video is so good!"
Courtney Reed
"You guys have done a really good job"
Fay Sedgwick
"This is rather brilliant"
Elizabeth Holland
"Your video is really good, I like it"
Nacera Medane
"Bravo, c'est tres bien" - (Congratulations, its really good)
Sam Powell
"Great video"
Overall we received positive feedback all consisting of whats appears to be the same comment about the video. Despite the fact these people are friends its not to say they werent harsh initially as the criticism had initially been by them. They helped fix minor bugs in our video to the point they could safely say with no regrets that it was a good video.
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Violence In Our Video Against The Mainstream
The reason I selected this video to finally back up the claims that our video is in-fact not that violent and support similar claims made by friends that our video would have made it into the mainstream is very simple. The violence in this video and in comparison to the style ours was made if just as extreme. The acts of murder, gun violence, revenge and rape are all aspect within the 110+ million hit Youtube Music Video by Rihanna. The similarities between ours and hers are in fact there is a murder, violence with a knife (not gun), revenge and a mugging (rather than raping). It is arguable that this is still an extreme video and shows blood as well as being very realistic but many other aspects, such as the rape, are mainly implied. This, a long with a full on murder being visible, make our video very tame in comparison to one in the mainstream market by one of the worlds biggest musical icons.
Key Things Noticed Due to Questionnaire
The main reason we selected to show the video to 3 boys and 3 girls who had no biased view upon our video was that we get a chance to see what two different sexes thought of the video. The most intrueging difference in scores were mainly on Question 4 "How violent was it" with 62% of the overall score of 29 coming from the males. It appears that the male audiance is more indulged into the world of violance and anything they see linked with it is immediatly violent. The females weren't that bothered with it and thought it to be mundane if anything however the male reaction to those scenes were more enthusiastic.
Upon showing the video to my male friends they all went hyper when the fight at the end came on and found the punch extremely entertaining picking up on the violent sections mainly, some saw the artistic aspects. However when shown the the female audiance they picked up more on the overall story and seemed to understand why the violence was included rather then just knowing violence was included.
For example, when the video was posted onto Facebook for feedback the comments posted by the males consisted were "That slap was epic!" and "Cut the last minute? joke!" as well as "I like how.. got clapped!". All the comments by the males were focused upon the violence. However both males and females enjoyed the video and the "Like" ratio is rather balanced. Despite this the comments by the females were different with one stating "You guys have done a really good job" as well as "proud of your editing" and "this is rather brilliant!". The fact the females focused on the techinal aspects and overall video rather than the acts of violence shown was finally understandable after the questionaire results had come through and the reasoning behind the reasons both sexes enjoyed the video became understandable.
Upon showing the video to my male friends they all went hyper when the fight at the end came on and found the punch extremely entertaining picking up on the violent sections mainly, some saw the artistic aspects. However when shown the the female audiance they picked up more on the overall story and seemed to understand why the violence was included rather then just knowing violence was included.
For example, when the video was posted onto Facebook for feedback the comments posted by the males consisted were "That slap was epic!" and "Cut the last minute? joke!" as well as "I like how.. got clapped!". All the comments by the males were focused upon the violence. However both males and females enjoyed the video and the "Like" ratio is rather balanced. Despite this the comments by the females were different with one stating "You guys have done a really good job" as well as "proud of your editing" and "this is rather brilliant!". The fact the females focused on the techinal aspects and overall video rather than the acts of violence shown was finally understandable after the questionaire results had come through and the reasoning behind the reasons both sexes enjoyed the video became understandable.
Questionnaire
The following questionnaire was titled the "On a Scale of 1-10". We devised a grading system of percentages to allow us to know how well we did. This was done by percentages to give us an idea of which aspect were actually the best when placed against the others (the exclusions to this system were questions 4 and 6). The questions were as followed:
Questions
Total
Questions
- How good were the locations?
- How believable were the performers?
- How good was the editing?
- How violent was it?
- How appropriate for TV is it
- How much do you think it can be improved by?
- How good were the costumes?
- How much did it suite the rock genre?
- How much did it suite the song?
- How good were the camera shots?
- How good were the props?
- How good was the pacing?
- Was there enough variety of shots?
- How good is the video?
Total
- 49/60 - Boys 24 / Girls 25 - 82%
- 48/60 - Boys 23 / Girls 25 - 80%
- 59/60 - Boys 29 / Girls 30 - 98%
- 29/60 - Boys 18 / Girls 11 - N/A
- 53/60 - Boys 27 / Girls 26 - 88%
- 18/60 - Boys 9 / Girls 9 - N/A
- 43/60 - Boys 23 / Girls 20 - 72%
- 53/60 - Boys 29 / Girls 24 - 88%
- 52/60 - Boys 25 / Girls 27 - 87%
- 56/60 - Boys 29 / Girls 27 - 93%
- 48/60 - Boys 23 / Boys 25 - 80%
- 54/60 - Boys 28 / Girls 26 - 90%
- 55/60 - Boys 26 / Girls 29 - 92%
- 53/60 - Boys 28 / Girls 25 - 87%
What have you learned from your audiences feedback?
We recieved, overall, four major criticisms about the video from people who had viewed it. One proved popular among the others and was actually known by us before we even welcomed the criticisms. They are as followed:
Original lighting
1 - We had, from a photography student, a complaint about the lighting and saturation on one of the scenes (John vomiting). This was, I quote, "Off-putting and just didn't look right". To tackle this issue was simple, we just went back into the editing suite and changed the contrast and saturation (which proved to be the biggest problem), then the brightness was increased and the dark and white spots were balanced better. The result was a cleaner shot and a basic error that was fixed thanks to the pointing out from our initial audiance feedback.
1 - We had, from a photography student, a complaint about the lighting and saturation on one of the scenes (John vomiting). This was, I quote, "Off-putting and just didn't look right". To tackle this issue was simple, we just went back into the editing suite and changed the contrast and saturation (which proved to be the biggest problem), then the brightness was increased and the dark and white spots were balanced better. The result was a cleaner shot and a basic error that was fixed thanks to the pointing out from our initial audiance feedback.
Smiles
2 - We had a few parts where there was either something getting into view of the shot or some errors of smiling, which proved to not go down well with some of our earlier audiance. To tackle this issue we simply decreased the lenght of those selected clips and at times made them darker to not be as visible. Also, a lot of cropping was needed to take out some shots that included plug-sockets and background equipment.
2 - We had a few parts where there was either something getting into view of the shot or some errors of smiling, which proved to not go down well with some of our earlier audiance. To tackle this issue we simply decreased the lenght of those selected clips and at times made them darker to not be as visible. Also, a lot of cropping was needed to take out some shots that included plug-sockets and background equipment.
Chosen Costumes
3 - Our selected costumes and performances. This was the trickiest of ones to re-do as it meant re-shooting and revamping the entire video and our dress-code. Also we had to darken some scenes and put other in black & white to make some of the costumes less obvious and try and divert the attention.
3 - Our selected costumes and performances. This was the trickiest of ones to re-do as it meant re-shooting and revamping the entire video and our dress-code. Also we had to darken some scenes and put other in black & white to make some of the costumes less obvious and try and divert the attention.
The slap
4 - The final and most common criticism was of the slap. There was nothing we could change about this during the actual shooting and we were aware before hand that it would not look convincing. The main issue, we discovered, was not the slap power of even how it was done but merely the speed. So by editing it to look faster at the exact moment her hand is swung to the moment John stumbles we managed to make it look authentic and not modified to look as if the speed was increased.
We recieved some comments that helped us understand what aspects of our music video we could improve. From our feedback we learned that our music video was very appealing towards the audience watching it and focused on what we could improve from taking in personal opinions on our video such as many audiencee's said the storyline of the music video was a bit adventurous and violent so some took a disliking to it but they said the editing and the choice of song made up for that.
From this we can bring forward that if we was going to make a production like this again we would keep the same style of editing but be on the less violent side to bring the balance to a compromise for both sides of the audience. Not only this but we will also bring a larger level of seriousity to our work and try and avoid the sniggles and chuckles that potentially could have ruined many mometns of our video. There will also be futher insight into what the audiance wants before we do such a project as simple spread from word of mouth was not sufficient, however, an earliers screening of our product will ensure that if we do make that same mistake we can correct our flaws faster and with greater effect.
4 - The final and most common criticism was of the slap. There was nothing we could change about this during the actual shooting and we were aware before hand that it would not look convincing. The main issue, we discovered, was not the slap power of even how it was done but merely the speed. So by editing it to look faster at the exact moment her hand is swung to the moment John stumbles we managed to make it look authentic and not modified to look as if the speed was increased.
We recieved some comments that helped us understand what aspects of our music video we could improve. From our feedback we learned that our music video was very appealing towards the audience watching it and focused on what we could improve from taking in personal opinions on our video such as many audiencee's said the storyline of the music video was a bit adventurous and violent so some took a disliking to it but they said the editing and the choice of song made up for that.
From this we can bring forward that if we was going to make a production like this again we would keep the same style of editing but be on the less violent side to bring the balance to a compromise for both sides of the audience. Not only this but we will also bring a larger level of seriousity to our work and try and avoid the sniggles and chuckles that potentially could have ruined many mometns of our video. There will also be futher insight into what the audiance wants before we do such a project as simple spread from word of mouth was not sufficient, however, an earliers screening of our product will ensure that if we do make that same mistake we can correct our flaws faster and with greater effect.
Editing The Video On Final Cut Pro
Editing this year was substantially difficult to that of last year. Not only were the tricks we wanted to pull off more extreme but the knowledge we had behind the actual programme grew futher giving us more expectations for an ambitious attempt.
This year we both wanted and had to put layers of images rather than leaving the one clip playing. To do this we put our selected clip to fade out to allow the other to be visible on the track above it. Then, heading to the bottom right of the screen, we pressed a button which had multiple dots being joined by a line. By adjusting the levels on the actual clip the same way you would for the audio file to the track we enabled ourselves to produce this effect however strong we desired.
We also wanted the flash back section, of the protagonist nearly punching his girlfriend, to appear as a flashback and contrast the scene in which he punches the mug who tries to steal his vodka bottle. To do this we entered the effects column and headed to the transitions. By dropping the colour and increasing the contrast as well as applying other image enhancing and reducing effects we got an image that, in contrast to the original, is obviously a flash back however does also stay in the same colour format and have the same look to it as the original.
To do the split screen segments for both the two eyes in one and the dead-couple at the end we had to do something we have not previously done on this programme. We had to click on the motion settings for the video and adjust the scale of the video. We then had to, by pressing the Image & Wireframe option on the View selections, crop the image and move it to its suitable position so the shots looked good and appeared how we initially intended them too.
Also, at times, the shots werent in the appropriate places and the focal points werent where we intended them to be. To tackle this issue we had to wait until the post-production stage and then go on movement again. We had to change where the clip was placed or how much we wanted to inscrease the scale by and confirm the key-frames when he had. We didnt want the effect to be too obvious so we added layers ontop of it and zoomed in gradually.
We also used multiple filters to both connote the slitting of the female leads wrist and to also make the bass playing appear more vintage. To do this we went to the effects selection and either picked the black and white option or colour enhance one. Either way we adjusted it the way we wanted and used the black & white tool to make certain things more darker too. Such as increase the black on the dark patches and reduce the white on the others, this effect can be seen more clearly on the third picture.
The final thing we had to do using final cut pro, besides the basics of putting the clips in-sync with the song and in the right order, was too create the stop frame animation effect. We did this twice in the video and both times we, rather than took photos, we recorder the entire thing and took either half a second or 2 seconds of us standing still or the objects being still and implemented them into the timeline in a way that it appeared the objects (the guitars) were moving and the performers were changing clothes and equipment quickly.
This year we both wanted and had to put layers of images rather than leaving the one clip playing. To do this we put our selected clip to fade out to allow the other to be visible on the track above it. Then, heading to the bottom right of the screen, we pressed a button which had multiple dots being joined by a line. By adjusting the levels on the actual clip the same way you would for the audio file to the track we enabled ourselves to produce this effect however strong we desired.
We also wanted the flash back section, of the protagonist nearly punching his girlfriend, to appear as a flashback and contrast the scene in which he punches the mug who tries to steal his vodka bottle. To do this we entered the effects column and headed to the transitions. By dropping the colour and increasing the contrast as well as applying other image enhancing and reducing effects we got an image that, in contrast to the original, is obviously a flash back however does also stay in the same colour format and have the same look to it as the original.
To do the split screen segments for both the two eyes in one and the dead-couple at the end we had to do something we have not previously done on this programme. We had to click on the motion settings for the video and adjust the scale of the video. We then had to, by pressing the Image & Wireframe option on the View selections, crop the image and move it to its suitable position so the shots looked good and appeared how we initially intended them too.
Also, at times, the shots werent in the appropriate places and the focal points werent where we intended them to be. To tackle this issue we had to wait until the post-production stage and then go on movement again. We had to change where the clip was placed or how much we wanted to inscrease the scale by and confirm the key-frames when he had. We didnt want the effect to be too obvious so we added layers ontop of it and zoomed in gradually.
We also used multiple filters to both connote the slitting of the female leads wrist and to also make the bass playing appear more vintage. To do this we went to the effects selection and either picked the black and white option or colour enhance one. Either way we adjusted it the way we wanted and used the black & white tool to make certain things more darker too. Such as increase the black on the dark patches and reduce the white on the others, this effect can be seen more clearly on the third picture.
The final thing we had to do using final cut pro, besides the basics of putting the clips in-sync with the song and in the right order, was too create the stop frame animation effect. We did this twice in the video and both times we, rather than took photos, we recorder the entire thing and took either half a second or 2 seconds of us standing still or the objects being still and implemented them into the timeline in a way that it appeared the objects (the guitars) were moving and the performers were changing clothes and equipment quickly.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Creating the CD Cover for Kings of Leon - On Call
Before starting to create our CD cover, we decided between us that, we should stick to the dark, grungy theme which was seen in our music video. This is because it would look unprofessional if we were to produce a dark video and then produce a luminous, vibrant coloured CD cover. It is better to be consistent with out work.
As a Graphics student, i decided Adobe Photoshop CS5 would be the best programme to use.
First, I added in a textured background. The CD cover needs to be eye catching in order to make sales. I decided that a textured background would look much better than a plain one.
After researching and analysing a few CD covers, it was apparent that the artists name and the title of the album or track is always visible, on the front cover. It would look best if we made the artist name large, to stand out. And added a dark shadow also.
With the artists name being clearly visible and sticking to the dark theme, i decided to throw in some strips of colour, then add effects. I decided to add effects not only because it would look better but also because the song itself has effects in. I also added 'strike outs' to the 'E' and the 'F'.
Due to the title 'On Call' i decided we needed some reference to this in the image. I typed out some random phone numbers and threw them in, i changed the opacity so that they were visible, but not over powering.
I then added a picture of Kociela and I with our instruments and distorted the image. We added 'on call' and made this partly blood red, due to the connotation to blood within our music video. We then added the music label 'Song Music' and 'Parental Advisory' in order to make it look more professional. Here is our INITIAL final front cover:
Here is an alternative front cover design:
After looking properly as these designs we thought it wasn't to our best ability and couldn't really be sent off as a professional CD cover so we decided to redesign.
Although with the previous design we said a textured background was better we decided against this so chose a plain black background and it instantly looks more aesthetically pleasing. I then also added the band name and song title, in white textured text.
This was quite plain by itself so I decided to add a border like structure to it. Also, I decided the yellow writing wasn't great so changed it to white. I also decided to make the space behind the text slightly brighter, to illuminate the text.
I then added some lower opacity numbers behind the text in order to show reference to the song name 'on call' linking to phones, linking to phone numbers etc. I also added some dark patterns to each corner of the border.
This is our FINAL front cover.
When starting the back cover i decided to stick to the theme that was visible on the front cover; dark with with border like structures.
I then decided to add the text, we are promoting only one song by the artist so i decided on the small album there would be 5 different versions of the song. I used the 'horizontal type mask tool' and typed on a crumbled piece of paper I scanned in, in order to give it a textured look and avoid boredom.
Here is the final back cover to our album:
When starting the inside I decided that i should do a contrasting theme, for instance on the front and back, the theme is black with bits of w
hite, but i have decided to make the inside white with sections of black. I chose to do this because a full dark CD could be considering as off putting.
Where the CD would go i decided to put a painted black wall which i edited myself, this looks effectives and goes with the fact that our video had outside/street themes.
The other side i decided I would add abit of text, the text being lyrics and a distorted picture of a guitar, which would obviously go with the rock band theme. I think the contrast between black and white looks professional and gives the cover a 'sharp' look.
Here are both inside panels:
When starting the inside I decided that i should do a contrasting theme, for instance on the front and back, the theme is black with bits of w
Where the CD would go i decided to put a painted black wall which i edited myself, this looks effectives and goes with the fact that our video had outside/street themes.
The other side i decided I would add abit of text, the text being lyrics and a distorted picture of a guitar, which would obviously go with the rock band theme. I think the contrast between black and white looks professional and gives the cover a 'sharp' look.
Here are both inside panels:
Changes to our Music Video
The perfomance was split into multiple sections rather than using green screens with one shot. This was done by filming things like the guitar solo seperately:
As well as the performances from both me and Joe seperately too, the first is the original the other 3 are from the three different segments of bass, guitar and vocals:
We made changes to the scene where our lead female begins to look at the knife and contemplate whether on not to slit her wrist. This scene was too obvious so we had to diver the attention from the knife and leave it more subliminal, however, we later show the knife but more subtley.
We first had to make the slitting of the wrist more subtle and less obvious and in your face. This was done by filtering the image with red and darkening it too. This connotes that she slit her wrist but doesnt show it and makes it harder to see the actual knife itself.
As well as the performances from both me and Joe seperately too, the first is the original the other 3 are from the three different segments of bass, guitar and vocals:
We made changes to the scene where our lead female begins to look at the knife and contemplate whether on not to slit her wrist. This scene was too obvious so we had to diver the attention from the knife and leave it more subliminal, however, we later show the knife but more subtley.
We first had to make the slitting of the wrist more subtle and less obvious and in your face. This was done by filtering the image with red and darkening it too. This connotes that she slit her wrist but doesnt show it and makes it harder to see the actual knife itself.
Analysis of a CD Cover. The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die
The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die was released too much anticipation on the 18th of February 2009.
The most eye catching aspect of this CD cover is definitely the image of what seems to be the ‘invaders’ spacecraft landing in a field full of spectators. This is effective because it is actually linked with the title of the album and their strange, unique electronic music genre could be seen as alien like.
Although the band are very famous, from tracks like ‘fire starter’ and ‘smack my b!tch up’, they are definitely not pop, which would be the reason for the lack of face recognition of the band members. This is to put emphasis on their production skills.
The image is electronically produced and edited to perhaps meet the generated feel to their music. It also looks very effective; the title of the album and the band stands out like a sore thumb.
Noel Clarke (Kidulthood and Adulthood) appeared in their official music video for Invaders must die.
The Prodigy have been around since 1991. Along the way they have picked up hundreds of thousands of fans, of various generations. The CD cover isn’t complex, and doesn’t seem to be directed at specific age groups, which is perfect for the wide ranged audience they are reaching out to.
Due to their unique genre of music these fans could range from techno lovers, to rockers, to grimy drum and bass fans all the way to electro punk. Their ability to produce almost any type of music allows them to reach out to a huge range, and to suit the album cover to every audience would be difficult.
The text is sharp and aggressive. The reason for this is to match the fast moving, 'make you want to move' feel to the music they produce. Orange is also quite a vibrant, bouncy colour, to match how people might like to dance to this.
Research Into Genre - Rock
The first thing tackled was the frequent amount of videos containing rockers performing with a high amount of energy trying to exert their song through their movement. Many artists from AC/DC, Bon Jovi and even, most suited to us, the Kings of Leon. Their videos consists heavily of extreme rock playing which at times is over the top. However Kings of Leon are also mellow at times, as is the video for On Call. We wanted something in-between as they aren't so much as rockers when compared to AC/DC with their high energy and constant need for riffs containing power-chords as well as guitar solo's consisting for more then 1 minute in total.
As you can see from the picture above the costumes for the video of rock are mainly casual. Theres no sense of extremity which is found in artists such as David Bowie which also means theres not much use of make-up as normally associated with rock due to artists like him and ones such as KISS. We therefor decided to scrap the idea of extremity but not completely as we still wanted the sense of our video having its own kind of style and look. So our compromise was for one to wear casual clothes and the other to look more vintage and 80's rock. So we get to the point where we begin looking like The Rolling Stones. Casual rockers on many occasions with a mix of what can be classified as extreme fashion which is at the same time casual and people dressed, as what can be classified, as normal.
The way the video is edited is a tricky one in the rock genre. Theres a lot of focus on many rock bands from AC/DC, Aerosmith and even The Stone Roses. However many of those artists and other huge bands like Metallica don't bother in the publicity of music videos at times and would rather focus on telling a narrative. So, torn between some of the biggest rock stars of all time and ones that make a good point within the rock genre we settled on both again. We have some extreme parts and many relaxed moments too. The editing is full of transitions, mainly inspired by Kings of Leon - Molly's Chamber. That video can be seen above.
As you can see from the picture above the costumes for the video of rock are mainly casual. Theres no sense of extremity which is found in artists such as David Bowie which also means theres not much use of make-up as normally associated with rock due to artists like him and ones such as KISS. We therefor decided to scrap the idea of extremity but not completely as we still wanted the sense of our video having its own kind of style and look. So our compromise was for one to wear casual clothes and the other to look more vintage and 80's rock. So we get to the point where we begin looking like The Rolling Stones. Casual rockers on many occasions with a mix of what can be classified as extreme fashion which is at the same time casual and people dressed, as what can be classified, as normal.
The way the video is edited is a tricky one in the rock genre. Theres a lot of focus on many rock bands from AC/DC, Aerosmith and even The Stone Roses. However many of those artists and other huge bands like Metallica don't bother in the publicity of music videos at times and would rather focus on telling a narrative. So, torn between some of the biggest rock stars of all time and ones that make a good point within the rock genre we settled on both again. We have some extreme parts and many relaxed moments too. The editing is full of transitions, mainly inspired by Kings of Leon - Molly's Chamber. That video can be seen above.
Saturday, 3 December 2011
Day 3 of Filming
Final day!
Developing a deeper story
However we still had a scene to film and the break up had to be done perfectly. The house owners kindly provided us with our intended proprs such as the knife. He also called over one of the extras from the first shoot to try and implement a deeper story into our video showing him chase after John. It was all going well and continued to go well. Our chosen female lead was also up for the challange of acting. The shot and filming went really well with great shots being filmed and the added addition to the story workng very well.
Neighborhood issues
Our few problems were with cars and neighbours who continued to drive through the road and walk into shot. This was even more difficult with it being a narrow road with minimal walking space before being in the road itself. Another was the dog that lived in the house, causing a few issues while trying to film the few seconds within the house itself where our lead girl goes after John. Ontop of this were complaints from the house owners about the door being left open, which was a major risk for the dog to escape. We couldnt close the door as our shots before had it opened therefor would break the continuity, but we managed to persuade them to leave it open. The final problem was, like on Day 1, the authenticity of the violent sections.
Innovative ways to overcome difficult shots
The wrist slit for many reasons couldnt be done so we tried to imply it with facial shots and close up/extreme close-ups. However the slap was an issue. Despite a first good slap that seemed to hurt the fact it was so unexpected cause our lead girl and John to laugh and be in shock. This acted as the catalyst to many more takes and many more times seeing our protagonist in pain and our lead girl sympathetic. We therefor, with time running out, called it a day and tried to pick off one of the many slaps caught on camera.
Day 2 of Filming
Johns Story
Diversions/Alternatives
We filmed in the Hulme area where we tried to be imaginative with what we could get from only a small section of Hulme. We also had to change it up a bit more and divert from the script as the pub / bar scene was scrapped once we couldn't get access. As a substitute we had John punch someone who tried to steal his vodka bottle to show his gradual increase in anger. The shots we wanted filmed in alley ways were difficult too as we couldn't get to a safe one within our allotted time-slot and the ones we could get too were infact dangerous. This meant we had to film onto some walls and a specific part of our college which we tried to pass as an alley way. It worked but not as well as we intended our actual day of filming to go.
Progressing
Overall it was a pretty hectic day which didn't go our way. We got all the shots possible and made as many subtle changes to the story we wanted to tell as possible. However our intened 5 day filming span we initially planned on doing was still within target as we had spent 2 days in the studio and 2 days out on location so far. The final day of filming had to run smoother if we wanted to finish on time.
Day 1 of Filming
Gathering extras
Making the most of our time
With multiple takes needed from multiple angles the strain began to show on the extras who, due to delays, had to wait an hour before filming could begin. By this time is was well into 6pm and people had to leave. We had a maximum of half and hour to do all the shots as our cranky extras grew impatient with the organising of the camera and the instructions being thrown at them.
Convincing 'agressive' acting
Gradually we began filming with Joe making sure all was ready to go and Kociela making sure everyone knew what they were doing. Due to the graphic nature of the scene we wanted and the lack of understanding about this our extras turned out to have, we had to get working faster and harder. We wanted a more violent throw to the floor, it to be faster and more importantly a lot more kicks and punches to be done.
Spectators
This sparked issues as on lookers became concerned and others a bit to excited trying to disrupt the shooting and cause trouble. The worst of the cases were two police officers who only saw the extras attack John so headed in our direction before witnessing the camera's and me directing them as well as Joe organising the time management and costumes and making sure everyone was aware of what they were doing. The police then became friendly and watched on until we finished the shoot.
Succesful work!
Overall it was a good take and our cranky extras enjoyed themselves and were pleased to be a part of it, despite the rain and cold. We got our intended shots with some ambitious methods, laying on the floor as kicks and punches were thrown being one. The shoot could have been better and smoother but for what we got and the time we had we were pleased with the final result.
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