Having To Cancel Filming

During the holidays I was unable to film when I wanted to, as at the last minute I had to babysit, and it was also bad weather. I will arrange for a date as soon as I can when I go back to school and then I will quickly be able to complete my filming.

My Chosen Music Channel

After researching into different music channels, I have decided that the one that I will use is MTV Music. I chose this one because I believe that my chosen artist 'The Script' would appear more on this channel. I also chose this one because the channel has the same target audience that my artist does, so it appealed to me more. This channel would also be beneficial for my choice of song as it has it's website, so has even more chance of being able to promote music.

Research Into Music Channels

Today I have been researching into Music Channels that my music video could appear on. I looked into what genre of videos the channels generally broadcast. After researching into different music channels, the three below would all be suitable to promote my chosen song and my music video.


VIVA generally broadcasts music from the genre pop and rock. Every day VIVA will also showcase the hottest new music with the exclusive Official UK Charts, themed programmes hosted by top names, with it's own website.This would be a suitable channel for my video to appear in because my song fits this criteria.

This is a similar channel to VIVA, and also has the same target audience, and it promotes the most recent music and includes interviews from a wide range of artists. This channel promotes music from pop and rock, so this would also be a suitable channel for my video to appear in. It also has it's own website. This music channel has the same target audience that my music video will.













This is a music and entertainment channel and has its own website which appeals to the younger generation as well as my target audience. It also features music from the pop rock 
genre, which would suit my chosen music video. 

Experimenting With My Footage

I loaded my footage onto Final Cut today and started editing some together to see what some of it looks like, and how much more I need to do to. From looking at the footage that I have, I have realised that I still need a fair amount of footage, but I would be able to get the footage in the holidays. I put together some of my introduction, to see how well the different shots go together and to see if it looks realistic. I also have put together some of the lip syncing to see how effective it looks. I found it quite easy to put this part together in time to the music and thought that it looked effective. This has also helped me to visualise what the final video will look like, and how the other footage that I film will fit into my music video.

I noticed that some of my footage was slightly grainy, but this will be easy to resolve. I plan to edit these parts, such as the scene above, in black and white, to make it look better. Some shots are also slightly shaky, but I will also edit these to stop them looking like this, or I will cut some of this out of the video.

Importing My Track To Final Cut Express

I imported my song into final cut express ready to be edited with my footage that I have uploaded.

Finished Digipak

Inside 

Outside

Arranging A Date For Filming

To complete my filming, I need to go out and film in the holidays so I will book out a camera and tripod over the holidays. I have arranged with Steph, Liam and Matthew to go out and film on Tuesday 20th December. We arranged this particular time as this is when we are all free I plan to film some scenes of Steph and Liam together and also Matthew, and the scene to go with the lyrics "you took the suitcase, I took the blame" I also plan to get some point of view shots from my artists point of view and also I am planning to get some photographs. After I have done this filming, I will only need to do a little but more after christmas holidays during school time.

Completing My Digipak - Inside Cover

Stage One - I first decided to choose another image of my artist from the photographs that I had taken, and choose the one that I think would look better in this part of my digipak. Once I was happy, I opened it up using Brigde, and then used the lasso tool to cut out the background, and then started to erase the edges again after feathering the edges.

Stage Two - I then changed the image of my artist into black and white to match the cover.

Stage Three -  I then went on "browse with bridge" and selected an image of a location to go on the other side. 

Stage Four - I then put the same background on the inside cover that I have on the outside of the cover so it all runs through together. I then put the picture of the location on one side of the cover.

Stage Five - I then had to decide where the picture of my artist should go. I decided that the picture worked best on the location image, and decided to have text on the other side. I then changed the texture of the image on the right to make it look better.

Uploading Some Footage

Today I uploaded the start of my filming onto Quicktime. I have found that I have about twenty minutes of footage that I can easily start editing while I film more of my footage. I have the lip syncing, shots of different photographs, as well as my artist looking at photographs in an album which I plan to have at the start of my video. I also have shots of the couple having dinner together, and lying together and talking, which will act as some of my flashback elements in my music video. After looking at the footage on the screen I feel pleased with what I have filmed so far and plan to film more in the next week.

Creating My CD Digipak - Outside Cover

Today I began to create my final CD digipak using the photographs that I had taken yesterday. I'm going to take screenshots throughout to show my progress. I changed some of my idea, and decided to have a picture of Liam on the back of the outside cover next to my lyrics as I thought it would look better.


Stage One - I selected a picture that I thought would look good on the back, and then used the lasso tool to cut out the background and the eraser tool to rub out any rough edges. I also used a soft paintbrush around the edges to make it slightly blurry, and to also remove any jagged edges to give it a smoother effect to make it look more proffessional.

Stage Two - After I had successfully removed the background and made the edges neat, I then positioned the image where I wanted it on the screen, and converted it into black and white, as I thought that the picture looked better in black and white, but also because I think it will fit into my finished digipak more.

Stage Three - Once I was happy with this, I began to work on the front cover. I chose a microphone that I wanted from my photographs, and again used the lasso tool to remove the background. 

Stage Four - I then changed the position of the picture so I could decide at what angle it looks best. I  then moved on to again remove the rough edges and make it look neat once I was happy with the position of the picture. 

Stage Five - Once I was happy with the microphone, I started to add the text on the back cover for the track listings. 

Stage Six - Once I had completed writing the text, I added the barcode on the right side of the digipak, using Bridge.

Stage Seven - I then added the production label for The Script, 'Sony Music'

Stage Eight - I decided to change the writing on the track listings to dark blue, to add some colour into my digipak. 

Stage Nine - I then added my album name and and artists name onto the front cover of my digipak. I selected text effects and "wave" to make the text look more interesting. I decided on two colours, black and blue for the text. 

Stage Ten - However, after looking at this when I had finished, I felt that I needed to add something else to it, so I decided to add a background to my digipak. I experimented with a couple of colours on the background:

Stage Eleven - I then decided on a beige colour as I thought this looked better, and relates to their genre of indie rock. I then had to remove any rough edges that are shown around my images after I had placed the background into my digipak. 

Stage Twelve - Lastly I had to insert small print at the bottom of my back cover. I done this from looking at other album covers, and then added in my own. I used text size 4.5 to make the writing appear really small like it would on another album cover. I had to zoom in on this part so I could ensure that the writing was correct. 

I have now finished the outside of my digipak cover and will complete some audience feedback and post it too my blog. 

Generating New Ideas

Instead of having a picture of the microphone stand at the back of my CD Digipak, I have decided to have an image of my artist, as I think this will look better. On the inside, I plan to have the text "when a heart breaks no it don't break even.." so it relates to the song, on the side with the image of my artist. I will do this so it relates to my chosen song, but not the whole lyrics of my particular song, as my digipak is designed for the album rather than just the single track. This will also add more to my design so it doesn't look plain, but so it looks simple and effective. I'm going to have the image of the park behind the CD, but i'm going to experiment with keeping in in colour, but also having it in black and white when I do the real thing, so I can see what goes better with my final design and the changes that I have made.

Digipak Photographs

In my free period today I took some pictures of a microphone from different angles, as well as the microphone's stand, to go out the outside cover of my digipak. I also took some pictures of Liam to go on the inside cover, for my artist The Script. I tried to get shadows in my pictures so it's easier to re-create my first design, so I took the pictures in a spot with good lighting. I also tried to ensure that there is not too much in the background of the pictures so it's easier for me to edit in Photoshop. Now that I have these pictures I can begin to create my final digipak using the images that I have taken. I also have some separate photographs of locations that I have posted before which will go in the inside cover of my digipak. Below are the pictures I took:

Coursework Deadlines

Term 3 ( By January 4th 2012)

Research and Planning Completed and evidenced on your blog for main task and ancillary tasks- assessment and feedback 

Filming MOSTLY completed

Track downloaded and imported to FCE

Editing of main task begins using FCE or FCP

Editing of ancillary tasks begins using Photoshop Elements

Term 4 (By February 16th 2012)

Editing completed during this term if not before

Term 5 (By 16th April 2012)
Main task and ancillary tasks completed by April 16th 2012

Media Studies Coursework Screening takes place - audience feedback received
Evaluation completed and presented

Exam preparation for Section A : Theoretical Evaluation of Production

Planning Digipak Photographs

I'm planning to take some photographs in my free periods today or monday that I will use on my CD Digipak. I am planning to base my digipak on the rough design I have planned below. I plan to get a wide range of shots of the microphone, some from a mid shot, some close up like my design and some from below and above. I will also get a range of different angles that I can play around with when it comes to using them on my final digipak cover. I also plan to shine a light onto one of the pictures, so I can also have different effects on the image so I have a number of different ones to choose from, based on which one I think looks more effective. I will also have one of the microphone with part of the wire trailing behind, rather than on the stand, and have a separate one of the stand.
I have also played around with the idea that I will get a long shot of the image with a trailing wire, so the wire can run through the front of the digipak and run through the back. I liked this idea because I think that it will look effective, but it will depend if I can get a long enough shot of them both. If not I could take a separate shot of the microphone's wire and edit it to look like one photograph in Photoshop elements.
I need to have enough space on the table to get shots like long shots, and without too much in the background so it's easier to edit. 

Practice Digipak Designs

Design One

This is the first rough idea for the inside of my digipak. I used a picture of the artist, and on the opposite side I used an image of a location that I plan to use in my video. I used this particular picture because I think this fits into my music video. I would also be able to use this picture in my real digipak because I took the picture myself rather than getting it off the internet. I will experiment with different colours for my digipak but also with the aspect of black and white, and I will then use the one that I think is more effective. I like this idea most as I think that this one is more effective and looks more proffessional as well as looking more interesting.

Design Two

I have been experimenting different designs that I could maybe use for my final design for my digipak. As my chosen artists fall under the genre of Indie (pop-rock) I didn't want  to design anything that is to over-the-top. As the artists don't use an image of themselves on their album covers, I won't be using an image of the artist but will instead use an image that relates to the artist, but I might be using an image of the image on the inside cover. I used a microphone as The Script are about their music, so I used this to promote their simplicity but also the value of their music for them. I also thought that The Script is about lyrics, so I used a microphone to symbolize them being spoken.

I edited the microphone image using filter on my second design and texture to make it stand out more compared to the background. I then used bold yellow and orange for the title and name of the album to stand out next to the grey, and also because they are associated as being Indie colours.

I then used my created barcode on the back next to the production label to attempt to make it look more convincing, with a picture of a microphone stand next to the track listings, which relates to the front cover.

I edited the second picture by rubbing out the rough edge of the image and then edited the shadow and part of the microphone in purple to give it an edge, and also changed the shape and style of the writing to match. Then I added a stand on the background, and on my real one I will take pictures of the microphones stand for this part.

Creating A Barcode

In todays lesson we learnt how we could create a personalized barcode. I included my name and my candidate number on my barcode, and I will use it on my digipak to make it look more proffessional.

I generated this barcode on this website: http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php

Photoshop Practice

Before: This is the portrait that I started with, and I got this picture from google images. 

After : This is my finished result, after I had finished editing it in photoshop. 

When I had chosen this picture, I opened it up in photoshop using Bridge. I first used the lasso tool to draw an outline around my artists so I could delete the background and just have the image of them, and then copied it onto my page in photoshop. I then used the eraser tool to go around the edges, to soften it and get rid of any rough and jagged edges. I used the magnifier so I could zoom into the different areas of the image to make it more neat. 

Once I was happy with this I slightly enlarged my picture, so it would fill up more of my page. I then manipulated the colour of the image by changing the saturation, making them darker with a slight shade of red. I then went back onto google images and found an abstract image to fit the background of the image. I changed the layers by putting the background as the first layer so it would fit behind the image of the band. I was pleased that I had decided to change the scripts colour as it stands out more compared to the bright background. I also slightly changed the background colours slightly, by making them brighter by editing the colours in the tools menu, and also made the saturation lighter to make it contrast against my chosen artist more. 

Filming

Yesterday I was able to film more of my music video. I filmed more areas of my video including shots of photographs for the introduction to the song, the lip syncing, a scene of the artist and the girl together,  and another shot that I believe will work well in my music video.


I got a range of different shots to make it easier to edit together, and so it looks better in the final video. I was pleased with the footage I filmed, and am planning to arrange another date when more of my casting will go out to film.

Practicing Using Photoshop

In today's lesson, we got taught the basics of using Photoshop Elements on the Macs. We learned how to  open the application bridge, so we can upload pictures onto the project. We learnt how to cut pictures, use tools, such as inserting images, and also learnt how to arrange our pictures into different layers, such as background, picture one, picture two, text, to make it look more effective. This are my first attempts at using photoshop, and the images are based on my chosen artist, The Script.

This will be very useful to help with my music advertisement and c.d. digipak, as I will be able to apply more practice in using photoshop, and so I will be able to use it for my work to make it look more professional.