Project log 18/12/13

Transcript:

Today is the deadline for my music video, my digipak and my album advert. So obviously I need to have all of my coursework done and I think I've done this quite well, I've got everything done on time and I also feel I am quite organised with everything. But at the moment I'm just updating my blog and making sure everything is as it should be, because I know there's quite a few things that I needed to add to my blog. For example, some of my project logs didn't have transcripts and stuff like that, so it was just little things that I felt I needed to update. I'm quite happy with my music video but obviously knowing that it's just the teacher deadline today I will be making a lot more changes to all of my coursework, to make sure that I'm capable of getting the best grade I can. I'm just going to keep on making improvements.

Adding the sparkle effect to my Digipak front cover

  This is a video I made on adding the sparkle effect to my digipak front cover. I recorded me doing this through CamStudio, and it basically showed me adding a line of multicoloured sparkles underneath my title saying "Lights". The video presents how I did this; - by importing an image I found from google and simply dragging it over to my front cover. I then selected the black background on it and removed this so that it just left the sparkles, and removed any necessary sparkles too. Unfortunately the video cut off so I couldn't show this part, but I also added a red and blue effect to it so that it matches my digipak's house colours more.
I imported this CamStudio footage to Windows Movie Maker, added a title and sped it up a tad so that it wasn't boring to watch. Then, I imported my front cover from before I added the sparkles, and my front cover after I added the sparkles. I used a title saying "before" and "after" by these so that the audience can tell them apart. This also shows the changes I have made and how the sparkles really improve my work.

TO DO: (15/12/13)

TO DO:

• finish raw footage of performance
• do raw footage of gym shots
• do video project logs that I haven't done
• do some more alterations on video etc
• do descriptions for all drafts/finals

Digipak 2nd draft

Front cover

OR:

Part 2 & 3 (CD):

Part 4 & 5:

Part 6 (track-listing):

This is the second draft of my digipak. As you can see when comparing this version to my first draft, I've made many changes to it and improved it in many ways. My first draft's main image of Georgina is the the same one I've used here except before it was a lot more zoomed-out and blurry. When receiving feedback from my teacher, she told me that I should zoom in on the main image a bit more to get more of her face on show and therefore make it look more professional; also allowing the audience to identify with her more. So, I cropped the image, and then the teacher pointed out that the image looked too 'raw' and needed a filter on it which I agreed with. I had been planning to add some sort of different colour to the picture anyway as I knew it was only my first draft, but my teacher made me realise this even more so. I played around with different filters by going on the 'change colour' tab and 'adding blue' or 'adding red'. I found that I liked the image with both a blue and red filter on it, so it was difficult for me to decide. Therefore, I decided to make two different versions of my second draft which I knew I could then ask my target audience which one they prefer and also decide by myself which one I liked most. So as you can see, the first second draft of my digipak front cover has more of a 'red' filter on it which I thought really portrayed passion and love, in comparison to the second version which has a 'cold blue' filter to it which I also thought was effective because it made her face stand out and made her look innocent, which is exactly what my music video does. I didn't play with the main title too much as I liked the way it initially was, apart from enlarging it a tad. I also made the main image sharper so that it looked more professional. Lastly, as you can see there are some 'sparkles' placed underneath the first version of my digipak's title here. I knew that my digipak needed just something more to make it stand out, and I wanted it to appeal to my target audience as much as possible, so I simply googled 'sparkles', imported the image to my digipak front cover, selected the unneeded background on the image and removed it, then played with the opacity of the image and placed it underneath the title. I know it's quite blurry and not perfect currently, but it gives me something to work on in the future. Also, on the second version of my digipak front cover I realised that you can really see where Georgina's face has been 'cut out' as it is rigid and does not look professional, so this gives me reason to choose the first version as my final front cover after I've improved it. I didn't feel I needed to make many changes to the rest of my digipak for my second draft, however of course I will be for my final digipak. For my final digipak, I will most likely choose the first version of my front cover and maybe add a bit more of a 'blue' filter to the image as I prefer this, and there will be many other ways in which I will be improving it.

Album advert 3rd draft

This is the third draft of my album advert. As you can see, I have made many changes in comparison to my last draft, however I am still dithering now on whether I actually prefer my last (second) draft or not. I showed my teacher and she told me that my last draft may have looked too much like a film poster, which I agreed with. So, I made many changes such as moving the album ratings down to the bottom of the page near the website mentionings etc.. I also changed the colour of the writing underneath the stars such as 'The Guardian' from red to white so that it would stand out more. This is because I figured that the red faded too much into the background which is the opposite effect from what I wanted. Furthermore, I moved the 'featuring hit single Guns and Horses' to the top of the page, above 'Lights', then I moved 'Ellie' and 'Goulding' down to the centre of the main image so that there was a gap between the writing to leave space for Ellie, and so that the font was small enough to fit in. However, I am not quite sure yet on whether I like this yet or not because I feel like it fades into the background too much and looks too 'random', but I am planning on receiving feedback from my target audience in order to fix this. However, my teacher thinks that it looks better like this so I will take that into account. Lastly, my teacher told me that my main image was too 'zoomed out' and even though I really liked the arch of the trees in the image, this needed to be cut out and the image needed to me zoomed in on because Georgina looked too small and far away, making it look like a film poster. I then realised that she wasn't the centre of attention on my album advert and that I definitely needed to fix this, so I cropped the image to make Georgina larger. I do think that this looks a lot better. However, in preparation for my final draft I will be changing many things, such as font size and type, the colours to make them stand out, amongst many other features.

"Guns and Horses" - Ellie Gouding music video 2nd draft

"Guns and Horses" - Ellie Goulding A2 music video 2nd draft/FINAL video from Hannah Alley on Vimeo.

This is the second draft of my music video. I have made many changes to it to ensure that I finalise it to the best I possibly can. For example, I have incorporated several slow motion shots of my friend Jessica performing gymnastics throughout the music video randomly. I have done this because I know that it is another way to keep my audience's attention. Also, I made these shots black and white in order to differentiate between the performance/narrative shots and these gymnastic shots, so that there is no confusion within the audience. I have also cut up the shots a lot more so that they are less long and tedious to watch. Furthermore, specifically I have changed the last scene a lot, where Georgina burns the letter Matt sent her. On my first draft there was a lot of shots of her picking up the letter and burning it, which may have become confusing and like I said, tedious to watch. However now, I have cut the shots to the pace of the song and shortened it a lot so that there's literally only about 3 shots of her doing this, keeping it simple and easy to watch. Also, before the video ended on a sad note with Georgina crying as she watches the letter's ashes scatter amongst the pavement, however now I have added a short shot of Georgina singing the last lyric as she smiles to herself, finally escaping the woods. I did this because I believe it gives the music video a resolution, adapting the 'resolution' theorem to it and therefore hopefully allowing the audience to feel satisfied with the ending solution of the video. As you can probably also see, many of the shots no longer look 'raw'. I have made a subtle contrast between the performance and narrative shots by adding an adjustment layer to all of the narrative shots, making them less colourised. Therefore the narrative/flashback shots are duller, introducing a distinct contrast. However, I noticed a few mistakes/problems with this video such as some narrative shots did not have this adjustment layer on them such as the first few narrative shots when Georgina is getting ready for her date. I did this by mistake, therefore I will be changing this for my third draft. I also know that some of the shots are probably still a bit too long, so in order to make the music video more interesting to watch, I will be changing this.

Digipak first draft

This is the first draft of my digipak. I know there are many changes I need to make, as I have noticed the main image of my front cover is blurry and a bit too zoomed out. It also looks 'raw', so I think I'll need to add a filter to it to make it look more professional. I think overall my front cover looks quite bland so I will make sure to add different features and filters to it to make it stand out more to the eye. For the CD covers I simply googled 'CD stensil' and imported this to two nature images I had taken in the woods which I thought would be good background images, removed its background, played with the opacity so that it was opaque, and added one on top of both images. I thought this worked out quite well and the ending product looked quite professional, however I know there will be changes I need to make to ensure it looks the best it possibly can. For the third part of my digipak, I simply used a shot of Georgina just finding the horse-riding badges in the woods. I really wanted to capture and use an image of some actual action that happened in the music video so that the audience would see the image and think 'that's what I actually saw in the video', therefore there is continuity and familiarity which I think is an important feature in a digipak. Also, I had an idea to basically make an artists note Ellie Goulding had supposedly 'written' to her fans/audience/customers, saying 'I hope you enjoy it as much as I did', suggesting that she actually really had fun with her songs/music video and wants her fans to, too. I thought this was a great touch because it adds a personal feel to the digipak and makes it also look a lot more professional. Finally, for the final part which was tracklisting, I simply googled 'track list digipak' and had a look at how most tracklists were set out. I discovered that you definitely needed a barcode and website on there, which was interesting; along with copyright information. I made sure to add these, by for instance googling 'barcode' and importing the image and cropping it which was fairly simple. Then, I made sure to use the house colours with the actual track list which was red and black, and made the font capitalised and bold in order for it to stand out. So far I am happy with the first draft of my digipak, however I know that there is a lot of progress I need to make in order for it to look really professional, realistic and generally the best it possibly can.

Album advert 2nd draft

This is the second draft of my album advert. Even though I have made many improvements to this, I do feel like I prefer my first draft for a few different reasons, so I will need to think about how I will make progress on this. However, after being told by my target audience that my album advert looks too much like a film poster, I firstly changed the font type of the masthead 'Lights' from a script font, to a large, bold capital font for it to stand out more as an album advert. Secondly, I moved this font upwards and then changed 'Ellie Goulding' into lower case and also so that the words were next to eachother instead of underneath eachother. This gave the rest of the album advert a lot more orderly space. Then, instead of having 'featuring the hit single' and 'Guns and Horses' underneath eachother I put them next to eachother and made the whole font white so that it stood out and looked organised. I also removed the soft drop shadow effect I had previously applied to it to make sure it stood out and didn't look too 'dreamy' and amateur. However, now I look at it, I'm not sure whether I actually preferred the 'dreamy' effect on it, so I will reconsider this. I also moved the 'Breathtaking - NME' text down a tad, and then I was finished. However I still believe that my album poster does look a bit like a film poster, so in order to avoid this I will be making many changes in preparation for my third draft in the future.

Project log 15/12/13

Editing the main image for my album advert on Photoshop

  This is a video I filmed using CamStudio at home, of me editing the main image of my model for my album advert on Photoshop. This includes me adjusting the shadows, increasing sharpness, adjusting the colour and adjusting the brightness and contrast. I found these adjustments really changed/increased the effect of my image and I was pleased I had edited it when I saw the outcome. I imported this footage to Windows Movie Maker, sped it up to make it like a timelapse, added my music video soundtrack and a title. Then I made sure to save images of the before and after of this image so that the change was evident, so I added these to the end of the video with captions, and I was finished.

Timelapse: taking digipak photos

This is a timelapse video I managed to record whilst taking the photos of my actress/model for my digipak. It took ages to get my phone/recorder in the right place for it to record which was quite an amusing process, as we figured we had nobody to record it because there was only two of us so I decided to hang Georgina's bag on a branch in the woods and slide my phone into the half-zipped pocket. It took so long to get my phone in the right position to record because the bag kept swinging round and the phone kept falling in the pocket etc., nevertheless we finally got the right position to start. I imported this clip to Windows Movie Maker, muted its sound, sped it up to turn it into a timelapse, added my music video soundtrack and a title, then I was done.

Timelapse: setting up my digipak prop

This is a video I got my actress, Georgina to take of me setting up an important prop for my digipak. This prop is an "artist's note" I thought would be a good idea to include in my digipak. I got a piece of paper and wrote "I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.. Ellie x" on it in itallic/script writing and scrumpled it up/teared it up a bit. Then, I found a spot in the woods that looked colourful, interesting, autumnal and suitable to use as the setting for this prop, and found some brightly coloured yellow leaves on the floor. I placed my note there, put some leaves around it without making it look too posed/contrived, and began taking photos. Once Georgina got this footage of me, later on I uploaded it from my phone to Windows Movie Maker on my computer, sped up the footage so that it was a timelapse, added my music video soundtrack and a title, then uploaded it.

Album advert first draft

This is the first draft of my album advert. I really enjoyed making it, however I know that there are many changes I will need to make in order to ensure that it's finalised to the best of my ability. I really liked the font type of the 'Lights' masthead as the script font gives it a 'dreamy', feminine effect which I believe is the whole music video in a 'nutshell', therefore giving it continuity. I matched the red text such as 'Ellie Goulding' and 'NME' to the model in the main image's actual hair so that the house colours are consistent and it looks professional. With the rest of the text I used a white font colour as black was too dark and faded into the background, whereas with white, it stands out and looks fresh and makes Georgina look innocent. It also matches with her white dress. I chose the main image because I believe that it sums up Georgina's journey in the woods in a nut shell. She is lost and intrigued by her surroundings and wants to find her way out, and she is innocent and feminine. Her pose/stance represents the femininity and innocence as she holds her dress in a delicate manner, yet the idea of her being 'lost' is also represented through her head looking above her as she is in the woods. Also, the fact that she is 'walking' in the picture captures actual action of the moment, making the audience feel like they are almost there with her. The wood surrounding captures isolation and vulnerability. I also believe that it was great to use a picture for my album advert that the actual music video was captured in because this portrays continuity and it means the album advert actually links with my music video, so the audience can relate to it and think 'oh, that's where she was in the music video when I watched it'. I also really liked the way the trees arch around her in the photo, which was another poignant reason for me picking this image. Overall, I know there are many changes I need to make but so far, I am happy with this result of my album advert.

Project log 13/12/13 (whilst taking Digipak & album advert photos)

This is a project log I filmed with my actress/model half-way through taking all of the photos I need for my Digipak and album cover. It was a successful session.

Transcript:
At the moment we're just taking the photos for my digipak and my album advert. So we're just in the woods at the moment, and it's actually going quite quickly. I've taken the front cover photos for my digipak at the moment and I've made sure that I've taken quite a variation of different shots so that I have quite a lot to choose from. Now I'm just going to take the rest for my digipak and my album advert. Hopefully I can get all of this done, then over the weekend I plan on downloading Photoshop and starting to edit these so that I have them ready for my deadline on wednesday.

Album poster draft

This is the draft of my album cover. As you can see, there is a bold album title called “LIGHTS”, and underneath it states “THE NEW ALBUM BY”, then underneath “Ellie Goulding”. Then underneath this it states “featuring the hit single ‘Guns and Horses’”.

Underneath this writing I plan to use an image of my protagonist actress holding one side of her dress delicately as she looks up around her wanderingly. She is in the middle of a woods, preferably on a path seperated by trees dangling over her.

Underneath this image there will be a quote saying “breath-taking”, and underneath “AVAILABLE NOW ON..” etc.

I plan to take the photos for my album poster tomorrow.

Production process of my digipak SO FAR

Production Process of Digipak SO FAR

This is the process I have reported on the production of my digipak so far. I have created this on a Powerpoint document, and decided to add the date on a new slide of each time I make changes to the digipak so that the examiner can properly monitor my progress and see how far I have gotten. It is almost like a mini diary, where I explain the changes I make along the way and why I have made them. I have also added the initial draft of my digipak so my intentions are clear. 
Along the way I have added a lot to this document as of course, I have been making changes to my digipak and a lot of progress consistently, so I have made sure that this is up to date.

Genre applied to my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

Genre applied to my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

This is a Powerpoint I have created, explaining all of the pop genre aspects that are included in my music video, how they are conventional and how they effect the audience and change the way my music video would be viewed. I also describe how my music video is similar and dissimilar to other pop music videos.

Digipak draft

This is the draft I created of my Digipak. It includes the front cover, back cover, lyrics, disk cover and more.  I found it fairly easy to create this draft as I used inspiration off of other previous digipaks which helped me a lot. I now feel a lot more organised with what pictures I will be taking for my digipak and what ideas I can incorporate into these.

Project log 12/12/13

Project log 12/12/13

Incorporating the slow motion gymnastic shots into my music video

  This is a video of me incorporating the slow motion gymnastic shots into my music video. I took the footage of my friend, Jessica, who is an ex gymnast, many months ago now, and I wanted to adapt these to my music video so that they can represent my main actress' different stages of emotion she shows. So, after completing the first draft of my music video I chose different pieces of the gymnastics footage and dropped them onto my timeline, slowing them down massively so that they are more dramatic and emotional, and adding a black and white effect to seperate them from the rest of the video so that the audience do not get confused with where they have come from. I made a screen grab with "CamStudio" of me doing this and when I was at home, I imported these pieces of footage onto "Windows Movie Maker" and sped them up so that they weren't too tenacious to watch, added my music video soundtrack and a title, and then I was complete. I am glad I made this video because it demonstrates the progress I have made on my music video and exactly how I did all of this. However, the only problem with this movie is that the quality of the screen grabs is not very good and I assume there were some technical difficulties while I was filming these, because you can see a lot of flickering and colour problems on the footage.

Genre and narrative aspects of my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding - speech

This is a speech I presented at school on the genre and narrative aspects of my music video, "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding. Firstly I talk about how my music video incorporates typical conventions of the pop genre and how it is similar to conventional pop genre music videos. Then, I go in to talk about how the narrative features of my music video build together to create meaning and what effect they have on the audience.

Project log 06/12/13 (and a summary of the week)

Screengrabs of music video production process: fixing errors and making improvements

This is a video I have chosen to create in my spare time on the process of the production of my music video so far. After exporting the rough cut of my music video, I realised there were a few errors with it such as the frame size of some of the shots being too small, so I decided to use a program called CamStudio to film me actually fixing this error. Then, after receiving audience feedback on my rough cut telling me that my shots did not suit the rhythm of my song too much and that they weren't fast enough, I began to make improvements on this weakness - again, filming this with CamStudio. I then imported both films to Windows Movie Maker, sped them up so that they were not too "boring" to watch, explained my intentions behind my actions, and added my music video soundtrack to it. I think me doing this has shown a true insight to my progress and how I am working proactively to make improvements on my music video due to feedback.

Audience feedback from: Siobhan, on the rough cut of my music video (parts 1 and 2)

Part 1

Part 2

Transcript:

Me: What do you think so far of the rough cut of my music video?

Siobhan: I think it's really good how you've got flash backs in there, it's quite flowing, also some of the lyrics matched up with what was going on in the music video. Also I like how it's telling a story of your actress in the music video.

Me: What improvements do you think I should make?

Siobhan: On some of them, use a faster cut so that it speeds it up, and matches the timing of the song and lyrics.

Me: Do you think that my music video incorporates the codes and conventions of the pop genre?

Siobhan: Yeah I do, because in terms of mise-en-scene, like the outfits she wears etc, it's very much day-to-day basis sort of stuff. As well as that, in terms of the location, it is very realistic and modern, with the woods and the home environment, it's kind of demographic of a young audience.

Me: Thank you. Also, do you think I have incorporated the stages well, and balanced the performance and narrative shots suitably?

Siobhan: Yeah, I definitely think that it is balanced out well. The stages of their relationship as well are really clearly shown, like where they're happy and then annoying each other, and you can clearly see that because it's well shot from certain angles and you can see their facial expressions.

Audience feedback from: Janani, on the rough cut of my music video

Transcript:

Me: What do you like about my music video?
Janani: I like how it's both narrative and performance-based, you get a bit of both, and I also liked your actors - how they made it look professional.
Me: Thank you. If you were to think of any improvements or criticism, what would you say?

Janani: I would say on one, link the miming with the song more.

Me: Thank you. Do you think that my music video incorporates the codes and conventions of the pop genre?
Janani: I think with the whole narrative it's a good idea as it's quite conventional of the pop genre, and also with the whole love story thing I think that's what you would expect in a pop music video.
Me: Thank you.

Audience feedback from: Rag'e, on the rough cut of my music video

Transcript:

Me: What do you think so far of the rough cut of my music video?

Rag'e: I really like the video; I like the 5 stages of a break-up that you did, like showing how you can go from a happy relationship to the end of a relationship. I like how you did the break-down of the relationship, I think that's the best bit about it, like how it is narratively ordered.

Me: What improvements do you think I should make?

Rag'e: In terms of improvement there was one moment before the second time the chorus began, and she began miming before the song came in. Also, there was a blip where there was distortion of a clip because it went out of shape and stuff like that. I'd say also, don't have your shots too long, purely due to the fact that when the song kicks in, there is a constant beat and your shots should follow that rhythm. Because if you have a shot that long for about 15 seconds, I feel like I'm going to expect that for the rest of the music video.

Me: Do you mean that with the narrative side or the performance side?

Rag'e: I think that with the shots of Georgina in the woods that is really good, it's just the narrative ones. If you were to maybe use fades and then at least it can give the same steady rhythm in the clip. That will show her heartbreak with fast parts and then will be slower etc.
Hannah: Also, how well do you think I incorporated the codes and conventions of the pop genre?
Rag'e: I think it's the best break-up song - I think it's an interesting song. All the shots and the story line fit in great with the song. I like the fact that you did both performance and narrative. Nowadays you see mostly just performance-based music videos. I like the fact that it is just her in the performance, and then her and also a male in the narrative footage. So that's what I like about it.

First draft of my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

This is the first draft of my music video which I created on Adobe Premiere Pro. I received a lot of feedback on the rough cut of my music video and took all of this on board, using it to improve on my music video massively. I have now added many effects to my music video, such as video transition fades so that the performance shots fade into the narrative shots for example, as well as many other effects like adjustment layers to tone down the vibrancy of colour in a shot or to add black and white to a shot. I found these effects very successful increasing the professional feel to my music video and also creating a clear contrast between the performance, narrative and also slow-motion gymnastic shots. Where my rough cut before looked unfinished and quite "messy", my first draft I feel looks a lot better and conveys so much more emotion to the music. I just need to improve on this music video now in order to complete my final piece which I believe I can do in a few days.

Presentation on the narrative of my music video

Narrative of My Music Video  
This essay explains the narrative and structure of my music video and the possible reasons why certain things were placed where they were. In this power point I speak about the intention behind each narrative aspect of my music video and what effect they have. I have also given an example next to each point I make, of an image of how I have actually practiced each aspect. Overall, creating this powerpoint actually really helped me because it confirmed to me why I structured my music video the way that I did and what effect its narrative features would have on the audience.

Narrative of my music video essay

Coursework Music Video Narrative Paragraph

This essay explains the narrative and structure of my music video, it explains the possible reasons why certain things were placed where they were. In this essay I speak about the intention behind each narrative aspect of my music video and what effect they have. Overall, creating this essay actually really helped me because it confirmed to me why I structured my music video the way that I did and what effect its narrative features would have on the audience.

Genre of my music video essay

This is an essay I have produced on the genre of my music video. This essay contains my reasoning for why I have produced what I have and how it links to the particular genre. This is so that the examiner is aware of the intentions of my music video and its effect.

Project log 04/12/13 (convert into video)

Transcript:
Over the past week I have been working really hard on creating my actual music video. I have been using Adobe Premiere Pro, cutting many of my shots, fitting them into place and adding special effects etc to get the look I want. It has been quite hard to fit everything in, as I have been having to create summaries of my raw footage so far etc aswell as making this music video, but I have made sure to work extra hard and fast to ensure all of these tasks are complete, which has required a crucial time management skill.
So far, I am nearly finished completing the rough cut of my music video, and after completing the summary of my raw narrative footage, I understand I now need to begin creating a summary of my raw performance footage.
Other things I know I need to do is return to Ruislip woods with my actress/model, Georgina, and take digipak photos. My Canon 550D camera stopped working whilst beginning to try take photos for my digipak on the filming day for the performance shots a few weeks ago, so I will definitely try to do this soon. Then, this will allow me to begin editing my digipak properly.
So far I feel quite up to date and organised with all of my work. The fact that I have nearly finished my rough cut of my music video makes me feel a lot better as it means I have finished it early and can begin starting on my evaluations and other coursework that I need to complete before christmas.

INSERT CAM STUDIO VID OF ME EDITING MUSIC VIDEO

Rough cut of my music video "Guns and Horses" by Ellie Goulding

  This is the rough cut of my music video which I created on Adobe Premiere Pro. I imported the soundtrack of my music video and then incorporated all of my footage, ensuring that every "stage" was in the right place. Overall, this took me about 2 weeks roughly to do. It was difficult as it took a lot of time management to make sure I would finish it before Christmas, however I have enjoyed the process. There are many improvements of course that I can make in this music video, and some parts I have not attended to, for example one of the shots I noticed are much smaller than all the others. However, I will making many changes to this music video over the next two weeks to perfect it and I will also ask for feedback from my peers to help me with this process.