Magazine advertisment

Before we create our magazine albumn advertisement I have been looking at examples, this will give me an idea of what we need to feature in our ad, it will also give us inspiration.

This is the basement jaxx advertisement, the image goes with the narrative from the title of the albumn, 'Crazy itch radio'. The advertisement has bright colours that helps it stand out. It is also very short simple and effective. We need to ensure our advertisment catches the audiences eye.

This differs to the Basements Jaxx's advertisment as it has less colour and is not as bright, so it is less likely to attract the audiences eye at first glance, however similar to the Basement Jaxx's the image follows the narrative of the albumn title, with the 'Lungs'.

This is quite a basic ad, its simple and effective like the Basement Jaxx, 5 stars are clearly presented on this ad, this is another way we could use to attract the audiences eye. The stars represent a high class albumn, rated by NME.

DigiPak ideas

I have watched this youtube tutorial on editing colours on photoshop cs3, as I am quite new to this programme I need to get to know the basics of it to ensure our digipack looks the best it possibly can. 

 

Song Ideas

Just a selection of indie song names for our digipak, we think these songs fit well into our indie/rock genre.

1. Foot on the pedal
2. Western Roads
3. Harriet
4. Midsummer Nights
5. Left in Autum
6. Jack Danniels & I
7. Call Me Up
8. Where She Been
9. Pride
10. Fighting Through It
11. Stormy Eyes

Digipak Ideas

Using photoshop cs3 we have edited the image by adding text. We searched through many different fonts on Livetype, and liked the western impression created by this font. This is obviously just an idea for our digipak as we are still expriementing and looking for other possibilities.

 

Digipak Ideas

Using a combination of photoshop cs3 and cannon raw we have created an image that we all like, the sky has been edited and the image has been sharpened up. We may choose to use this image as the inlay in our digipak or even the back.

 

Digi Pak images

We took these images as ideas for our digipack. As the album name is 'A long walk home', we chose to go for the obvious narrative and choosing a long road, we took these pictures on a overcast day, as the sky is completely white it has made it easier to edit on photoshop. 

With this photo we chose to take it at a slight angle to test it, however we have all agreed we wouldnt use this photo, as it doesnt seem to work very well, also there is a car in the image, and the narrative of the name is 'walking'. 

This is a better image, as it involves a lot of sky so we would be able to edit and make this very effective

We will not be using this image, as at the bottom of the image there is the outline of a car, we could cut this out however the image is also at a slight angle and doesn't look very proffessional.

This image is also at a slight angle, with the angled images we did not use a tripod, this was a mistake.

This is a straighter image and looks good, however I think it would look better if there was more sky to edit on.

This image shows a long road which would work for the narrative of our digipak.

We did not use the tripod for this image so it is not perfectly straight.

I am most happy with this image, as we used the tripod it is straight, it also involves a lot of sky to edit on. I think this image would be the best to use. 

Editing progress

Today (09.11.11) as a group we have began our editing, as we have completed our filming. We have all agreed with the split screen idea to begin the song with, we have studied many online tutorials and have worked out how to do the split screen. We have completed the begginning and end of our video.
Tomorow we will continue to push on with our editing.  

Planning Interviews

Before we finish all of filming and editing I have interviewed three people with the main outlines and ideas for our video. The reason why I have done this, is because we are now able to see the pros and cons of our planning. For example if all three of them disagree with a certain aspect of our video, we may opt to change bits of the video, as after all they are the audience!

I have showed them our video timeline and our story board, and asked them to comment on the positives and negatives.

Jacob, 17 years old: I like the starting idea with the band members with a split screen, I think this idea is good as it would be effective in creating an au
thentic band performance. I think you could give more thought into the band members outfits. However it is an orginal idea to place the band members in different places through out the video. The narrative of the video coincides well with the song however you want to make sure the start of the song isnt too long.

Janet, 28 years old: I think you could maybe use more of a creative narrative, however I still like the narrative you have planned out. The split screen is a brilliant idea that you can really make look effective. Other than the more creative narrative it is hard to find many more negatives in your plan!

Joseph, 20 years old: The split screen and random placement of the band members is an excellent original idea. I think the narrative is good and appropiate to the lyrics, the only negative I can see in the plan is maybe the length of the starting scene, however if many camera angles are used, this length will be potrayed as short and will be made more entertaining.

CONCLUSION
After these interviews I am now able to relook at our plan before we end our filming, and possibly edit certain bits of it to ensure the audience can gratify our video.

Video analysis

Artic Monkeys - Brianstorm

I have analysed an Artic Monkeys video; Brianstorm, as the music they produce is from the same genre as our song, also the band has similar elements, for example they target the same age audience, also people gratify the band in the same way people gratify our band, for example the fans see these artists as role models, and try to dress similar to them, etc.
Below is the Artic Monkey video.

The begginning of this video is incredibly similar to the way we would like to start our video, the band are recorded all together, this convincing band performance creates a realistic effect, as the video is mainly based around a sort of 'live practice performance'.

Through out the video, there is a master shot of the band, that is frequently repeated through out the video, this master shot reminds the audience who sings the song, it was also one of the Artic Monkeys earlier videos so they focus the video around them. In our video we are aiming to use a master shot of the main artist around a piano, I think it would be effective and we would be able to use close ups to focus on the artists skills.

The cutting rate of the video is incredibly quick, this ensures the audience do not get bored, it is also in time with the beat of the music. Many music videos I have watched, the cutting rate of the scenes have been quick, I think we should use a quick cutting rate, as we can still use a narrative if we want however it would make sure we keep the audience interested.

Brianstorm also has elements of narrative, at first it comes across as being quite a random video, however if you look deeper into it, it has a sort of narrative, for example when is talks about lightening, there is images of flashing lightening.

There are many differnet camera shots used through out the video, the main shot involves a medium shot, however close ups are frequently used, these close ups are effectively used as they show some of the artists skills, such as a close up of the guitarists fingers, strumming. We will attempt to use a number of different camera shots as it would help gain the audiences attention and will show different angles.

The master shot has been edited with a sepia effect, the Indie/rock genre can convey itself with a vintage effect, this occurs from the 'independent' convention of the genre. This sepia effect is contrasted through out the video with bright coloured images of people dancing.

Video Planning

In our music video we have used many video conventions concerning camera shots, camera movement, editing, lighting and Mise-En-Scene.
 
For camera shots we have included a variety of long shots, mid shots and extreme close ups to create variation throughout the video. The main generic convention we have used thorughout the music video are close ups on the artists musical talents. Concerning camera movement we have used a variety of techniques including panning, mainly used to follow the artists movement. Editing, we can comment on the fast cutting rate to associate well with the upbeat tempo of the song. We have recognized this as the beat and rhythm of the song determines the editing techniques. Lighting in music videos can be seen as very important and extreme artificial lighting is usually used to emphasize the artist and making them look flawless.

Maybe if we switched from black and white light it could indicate the shift from verse to chorus although in our peice we hope to use black and white shots to show that those particular shots are flashbacks. The overall layout and aesthetics of the video determines the style of the video. We have shown this by the clothes and location as they are both quite relaxed and a casual approach to the video as a whole.