Filming day 6 - House

Today we filmed at my house. The aim was to get shots which we could put into a montage showing them looking unhappy in their relationship. We also wanted to film the scene explaining why the protagonist was put in prison. The lighting today was great because there are a lot of windows in my house, so we did make full use of the natural lighting. 

One of the issues we faced was thinking of ways in which to show the relationship between the two characters was deteriorating. There was only so many times we could film them sat far apart without the video becoming uninteresting. Therefore we made sure to do as many costume and location changes as possible. 

Filming day 5 - Severn beach

Last night we filmed at severn beach. We filmed after Charlotte finished work at 6:30. However, by this point it was pretty dark so we had to bring a torch. The shots we got conveyed the narrative clearly but looked mediocre as the lighting still wasn't good enough. However, we are filming again today so we may use some different cuts in the place of the worst shots. 

Editing the Bristol footage

On Wednesday, we began editing the Bristol footage further. What we started by doing was putting the footage we wanted into our skeleton video. Now, because we think that the footage we have got is relatively plain and uninteresting, we will use advanced editing techniques to make them more engaging. We started by doing a series of jump cuts on footage where the two protagonists were filmed walking. To improve the footage even further, we decided to reverse some of the footage we obtained. We kept the original clips in and copied them and then reversed them. I felt as though this made the romantic footage less generic and more appropriate for an indie rock song. 

Filming day 4 - Studio

Filming in the studio we made sure to use a variety of camera angles unlike the previous time that we filmed. We also made sure to use a lot of camera movement so that we could obtain more varied and interesting footage. We also used different projected images than we did previously which I am unsure whether they worked well enough to show up on camera. One of the issues we faced was that we forgot to book the photography studio. This meant that when we got to the studio on Wednesday afternoon it was being used by photography students. Fortunately, we were able to work around the students taking it in terms to film/take photos. 

Digipak poster: Linking with my new idea

I created this digipak to link with the digipak cover I created: 

After showing it to students in my media class, here is the feedback I received: 

• Add download (spotify etc. logos) 
• Experiment with different colours 
• Try using a less distorted image of your artist 
• Add an artist website link
• Mention a hit in the album

Front cover of digipak: Piecing the photos and text together

When I first imported the image into my digipak, I kept the text the same. I did change the colour of the text and the image to create a consistent theme throughout the band logo, album name and image. However, the general audience feedback I received pointed out the issues with the layout of the text. 

I then reorganised the text, enlarging the band logo whilst placing the album name behind the image of Sam. This looked more visually appealing and was easier to read. 

Finally, to make the image stand out even more, I added the pink triangles. This added more colour to my design. 

To ensure that my deign remains clear and consistent throughout, I have added the opaque shapes over the top of the inner sleeve images. This is what I have so far: 

Front cover of digipak - piecing together the photos

The base photo I used was a simple portrait photo of Sam facing forwards: 

I layered the photo with other photos I took: 

I then pieced the images together to create an awry image of Sam:

Front cover of digipak - photoshoot

When taking photos for my digipak I made sure that Sam stayed in a similar position but pulled different facial expressions. This is so that when I pieced the photos together they would create the most contrasting sections. 

Digipak advert progression - Linking with digipak inner sleeve progression

Since I had attempted to create the digipak using images of the bear, I tried using the same idea with my digipak poster: 

I applied my previous side of using distorted images however felt that it did not create the same effect on the bear mask as it did on my practice trial with Ellie. For this reason I will not continue with this idea of using the bear as my main image.

Digipak progression - Right inner sleeve

The first thing I did in photoshop was trace the digipak template. This is so that I got all the dimensions right but didn't get confused by all the test and lines.

The first picture I added was a close up: 

However, I felt that it focused so much on the bear that the attention may be drawn away from the artist. Therefore, I decided to use a long shot of the bear in a similar position: 

You'll notice here that I also made the photo black and white. This is because I though tit might be more representative of the indie rock genre if the inner sleeve was entirely black and white whilst the outer sleeves had colour. in addition to this, I also felt this would draw away from the bear to pull the focus back onto the main artist.

    

    
I also tried using the photo as the album cover which also worked well. The audience feedback I received was that the album name and band name did not look similar hence why I changed the colour. I also attempted to use the photo t create the text which I also felt worked. However, I would prefer to use a photo of the artist for the cover as I do think this is more representative of the indie rock genre. This is therefore the photo I will use for the right inner sleeve rather than the front cover. 

Digipak photoshoot - Prison

Whilst filming at the prison I decided to get a few shots for my digipak. There was one shot in particular next to the "out of bounds" wall which I thought would be a great place to take a photo for the digipak:

Digipak advert progression - Layout and colour scheme

These were the two digipak poster layouts I came up with. I added the bare minimum so not to distract the people I was going to ask for feedback from. The general feedback was that the layout was effective but the colour scheme was misleading. This is because of the blues I used which gave the impression that the album was water related. I can agree with this and so I have decided to work on the colour scheme further. 

Scheme 1:

Scheme 2: 

(adding additional graphics) - I am not sure if I will include this in the final piece as when I put a photo in front it may look too cluttered. 

Scheme 3: 

Album name progression

The album name is Half Apart because I do think it will link with the photos I plan on taking. Also it does suit the music genre of the songs. 

When choosing a font for the digipak poster and album, I will choose a font which is suitable for both. This means that the font needs to be bold to be noticeable when it links with the solid coloured background and must be a similar style to the bands name so that it fits with the brand identity of the artist. 

Choice 1:

I chose this as I feel that it is bold enough. However, I am unsure whether it will match with the font I have used for the band name. I would like to continue searching for a font for the album name but will continue to look at sans serif fonts. 

Choice 2:

Although I think this font will look more appropriate next to the band name, I am unsure of whether it is bold enough. Therefore, I would like to try it before I decide to use it. 

I did not think the two fonts worked together at all. 

Choice 3: 

I thought that because this font was a similar style to the band names font that it would work. However, although it looked better than choice 2 it still did not work:

Finally I decided to take a look back at choice 1 which I thought was too bold to work. I discovered that the reason the fonts did not look good together was because they were different colours. When they were both the same colour they fit together better: 

I have decided that a bolder font would be better for the album name despite my earlier assumptions. That is why I have chosen the same font but spaced out the letters: 

Linking my digipak with my digipak poster

A key element to my digipak poster design will be the text that links with the solid colour background. To show continuity throughout all the advertising pieces, I have decided to use this same idea on my digipak. However, taking inspiration from this digipak I have decided to use the font up the side of the digipak instead: 

I think this will be representative of the alternative genre and work with the photos I plan on taking. Here is my final plan for the front cover of my digipak: 

Rescheduling filming

Unfortunately we were unable to film on Friday because Sam was ill: 

Although this has set us back by 3 days because we were unable to film over the weekend due to charlotte working, we have rescheduled for Monday. Another issue we have faced is that Sam has also lost the black cap that we used during filming. Although, I do have a similar cap and we will use that in its place. 

A plan for my digipak poster

To gain a greater understanding of the conventions of a digipak poster I looked at the scripts digital poster: 

Conventions I identified: 

Band Name 

Album Name 

Release date 

Photo of band which is representative of the album 

This enabled me to create a rough plan for my own digipak poster:



This idea was inspired by this artwork that I found online. I used a key element which I think worked considerably well in their piece and applied it to my own. The idea was to link the text to a solid coloured background. I think this worked really well as it draws attention to that specific bit of text.I also liked the contrasting colour scheme and would like to try that in my own digipak poster. 

I concluded that the dimensions of the digipak poster was that of an A4 piece of paper. This is therefore the template I used in photoshop.

Revisiting my digipak plan

After receiving feedback from students informing me that my digipak was not representative of the indie rock genre, I have revisited my design plan. I have instead decided to remove a patterned background because it took attention away from the artist which was the main focus of my album cover. I have also decided against using bright neon lights in the photoshoot. 

I have decided to go for a simpler design this time, with a focus on the artist instead of the background. 

Planning for filming day 4 - Studio

We have decided to revisit some of the shots we took in the studio. This is because we filmed them all on tripod and the feedback we got from students was that it wasn't interesting enough: 

In order to prepare for filming tomorrow night, I have created a montage of all the possible projected images we could use to allow us the entire evening to film. The footage I have used uses light colours because those are the colours that turned out best in the last shots we filmed. In addition to this, I have added a clip on the end which uses darker colours which I think would make for a great shot to start and end the video. Here are the clips I think would be great to use tomorrow (5 second previews): 

Filming day 3 - Gloucester Prison

The costume we chose did fit perfectly as we did want it to be slightly oversized. The costume also looked really good against the prison backdrop as it was obvious that our character was a prisoner and it was easy to spot him against the bland surroundings. 

We caught the train to Gloucester from Late with tickets we had purchased and collected from Bristol the previous day whilst filming in Bristol. It took us an hour and a half to arrive at Gloucester including the trip from Thornbury. Although we were worried this wouldn't give us enough time filming, we had plenty of time and managed to catch the train back at an off peak time.