Constructing the Digipak

The album cover consisted of six different panels. Each panel needed some editing to make it look vibrant and eye catching. We used Photoshop in order to display our creative and image manipulation skills.

 

The bottom left panel of the digipak just tells the audience the different members of the band and their role. We included two blacked out figures and this was simply to connect with the purchasers of the album. It allows the audience to recognise which band members were used to grow a stronger bond between us and the audience. This panel includes plain colours compared to other panels and this is because we wanted to portray some seriousness. As well as being vibrant and energetic it makes us look serious about what we are doing and it implies that we are professional.

The next panel is the contents page of the album. It is useful as it allows the audience to see what songs are included in the album. Similar to the last panel this took little time to edit in Photoshop as it only required use to change the scale of the background and include some text.

The last panel on the bottom row is the front cover. This panel is the most important as it has to look good to attract the attention of consumers. This is the first panel that the audience will see so we chose to make the colours of 'A-Club' stand out.

Across the top row of the digipak layout we used vibrant colours and the editing was longer and harder. We had to import the pictures we had taken previously then we had to import them into Photoshop. We firstly cut each member out then in different windows we changed the opacity and colour. We also used some creativity to create playing cards to add some humour to the album. Creating the border wasn't difficult, but changing the background was challenging. Once we figured out how to use the different tools it was easier to apply the same process to the rest of the playing cards. We chose to do this as it helps the audience identify us as members easier.

The final panel of our digipak is the face of the CD. We chose to have the panel feature everyone pointing towards the centre to create some interaction with all the members and the audience. We also included a plain white t-shirt in the panel and this was to reference the band that originally created the song. The Photoshopping skills were similar to creating the playing cards and this took up a lot of time.

Creating the Magazine Advert

To produce the magazine advert we used Adobe Photoshop to edit a picture on ourselves onto our chosen background. This editing package made it easier for use to cut, crop and manipulate the images in order to produce our final magazine advert.

Firstly we went online and downloaded a background cover from Google images. We wanted to make a portrait poster so we had to change the rotation of the image and we did this by changing the scale. We used the 'content-aware scale' tool as it got rid of any unwanted space without changing the picture size.

In a different window we cut the image of ourselves and changed the opacity. This was because we decided to include a watermark of an image so that we didn't look plain in the actual advert.

Next we took the image that we had previously cut out and placed it on top of the background. Lastly, we imported the 'Spotify', 'itunes' and 'Google play' logos and lined them up at the top to make the advert look official.

After looking at other magazine adverts we decided to add our website at the top underneath the media outlets. We kept the consistency with the text and made sure that we put the bands name in big font as well as the day we were performing our new album. The name of the album appears underneath the band name.

Audience Feedback

To receive more feedback we decided to ask some students in our class what they thought about our video and we sent other people a link to a short survey. We created our survey on a free website called 'SurveyMonkey'. We included some simple questions about the video and how we could've improved the cinematography and editing.

All the people that answered the survey enjoyed watching the video, 66.67% of people liked the editing, but as for the others they said we could've improved this by putting in more shots from different locations. 

We were recommended to use other transitions such as dip to black and jump cuts. With the last question regarding visuals people thought the we should have improved the contrast to make the video look vibrant and use more shots in different locations.

The feedback that we got from some of our classmates were mostly concerned with the editing. Some students didn't really like the parts of the video where the speed of the clip is increased. They said that we should've used different clips to fill in the gaps. Also some of the clips last too long. They said that to avoid this we should include more random shots of the band to make the video look more professional. 

Editing the Music Video 2

After getting feedback from the rough cut we decided to go out and film more scenes in the band room. We used the lights more effectively and filmed some free hand shots with the camera. After all the footage was uploaded onto Premier Pro we synced all the footage in and added video transitions for effect. 

The cross dissolve transition became too repetitive so eventually we just kept the transitions to a straight cut and a few dip to whites. To do this we went to the effects section and looked through the different video transitions that we could use.

Music Video Rough Cut/Feedback

This is our Music Video rough cut that we have shown to a few classmates to receive feedback. The point that everyone raised was that it was repetitive. What they meant was that we didn't experiment or use any video transitions. Also we were told that the drama studio was a good place to film the band scene so we should use this more. 

After receiving the feedback my group and I have decided to take on these points in order to improve the video. With the use of transitions and the studio lights in the drama room hopefully we'll be able to make our music video look more professional and be more entertaining. 

Filming Day 4 - Park

Today we filmed a little in the park. We just decided to record some random activity that had no relation with the video. The reason was to make sure that we had enough footage for when I come back to record. Also, we got this idea from looking at different music videos.

Filming Day 3 - Drama Studio

We came into the drama studio for our second spell of filming. This time we got much more lip synching done and some footage of the whole band playing. After looking at the footage on the camera I think that it would be best to film some more outdoor scenes to make the music video more interesting. 

Editing the Music Video 1

We imported all of our footage and edited all that we had. I managed to get around one and a half minutes worth of the music video complete so we decided to go film in the drama studio again. There were some shots that we were unable to film so we made a note of them for when we go filming next time. I managed to use some of my editing skills to change the size of the clips so that it made the video look energetic. Using this editing technique allowed me to put more of the shots into the video at once and let me edit on the beat. 

Band Sequence

We have added some good usable footage for this scene with many different shots of the band members in different angles. When we go filming next time we need to use the lights more to get more variety in our shots. If we use them well and film from different angels we should be able to get enough footage for our music video.  

Second Production Meeting

Today we had our second production meeting where we sat to discuss our next filming day. So far we have decided that we will film after the half term in the drama studio. This is because it is currently in use and whenever it is free some of us are unavailable. We have also had time to complete and fill in some of the planning documents as well as look through the footage we have already edited. We now know what type of shots to film so that we can fill in the missing gaps of our music video.  

Filiming Day 2 - Drama Studio

Today we decided to film in the drama studio for our band sequence. We used the studio lights in the room and positioned them to get good lighting. We experimented with the lights for a few minutes to make sure that they weren't too bright and they shone on everyone. 

We were only able to film for about one hour and a half but we managed to get a lot done. We filmed some closeups of each band member playing their instrument with the lead singer lip synching. It was difficult to get a lot done as the room was only booked for a limited time and we had to make sure that all the equipment was put back.

Filming Day 1 - London

"Fournier Street"

Today we shot all the footage that we needed in London. We filmed around three shots of Sam lip synching because we found good backgrounds and thought that it would be nice to use the surrounding in our music video. 

When we got to London the first location that we filmed at was in Spitalfields. We were recommended to film on Fournier Street because it was quiet and we could film nice wide shots. After filming on Fournier Street we walked around the area and found other good locations to film and managed to get good footage to edit. 

First Production Meeting

Today we had our first production meeting and where we discussed the location, shooting schedule and made a story board. We sat down around the table and brainstormed some locations of where we could film. We had all agreed that we would be filming in London, but we just needed an area that was quiet, looked good and had a good atmosphere. Sam was mainly working on the storyboard whilst Azimul and I were searching for locations online. Towards the end of the meeting we spoke to one of our teachers for location suggestions and we were recommended to film in Shoreditch. Also we managed to tell them our ideas of how we were going to film the different shots on the storyboard and where we were going to film them.