3 Draft Website

http://reaganharding7.wix.com/tdvalentino

Week 14

This week I carried on with the process of making the websites. However the original layout that I had, I wasn't very keen on it as I felt it didn't look very professional and actually looked very messy. This would be very bad as we want our artist to seem professional and with a poor website it will not do him any favours. Therefore I started a new website with  completely different layout and colour scheme. I also found it easier to create the new website because I transferred my new skills that I practised from the first website I created, over to the new one. This also meant I was able to create the website within a week. The new site also has a online shop with Theodore Valentino branded merchandise.

This was the first website I created.

This is the newest website that I have created.

Week 13

During this week we have created the first draft for our digipak.

Here we have put the first draft together in the layout we wish to have. We have cropped the images so they are the correct size. Some of the images have been edited also, and we are going to show this draft to our peers to get their feedback. Once we get their feedback, we are going to make the necessary changes. The digipak still needs a lot of improvement but we are on the right track, and the images we have used we are very happy with. We believe they really show our genre and clearly show to the audience a little about our artist's personality and profile.

During this week we have also been editing our music video. We now have over three quarters of it completed and edited. The feedback we have been having is very positive and we haven't had lots of changes to make. Just some tweaks in some places to make it more professional.

Week 12

During this week my group member Bobby carried on with the editing of our music video, whilst I started to create our website. For the website I am going to create a number of different pages that include; the homepage, about our artist, contact us, gallery, shop and tour dates. From the research I have carried out these were the most popular used pages for websites of musicians. Therefore I wanted to use these pages to make ours as professional as  could. This also means I know exactly what pages I need t work on so I can start creating the information for each page step by step. I found it very hard trying to get everything to fit, choose the right font, text colour etc. so I decided to create a first draft of the website. This would mean I could get feedback and then make the necessary changes to make the website better. The main objective for the website is to make it very appealing for the audience so they want to tell their friends about it, and spread the word around.

We also started to crop the photos we have for our digipak so we could make a first draft and then get improvements from our peers.

Week 11

This week we carried on with filming were we focused our attention mainly too lip syncing. As we don't have many lip syncing shots throughout our video so far we decided to get a lot of them done in one day. This meant we would be able to put them in places when suitable. We would build these shots in around the narrative and performance shots we already had. We filmed in a number of different locations so we didn't have lots of lip syncing with a similar back drop.

We also decided to take pictures for our digipak as the locations we were at were perfect for the images we wanted to get. For the images we didn't need many props at all. Simply a guitar and a tripod were needed to create our images. We didn't want them to look to set up so we tried to keep them as natural as possible. This would make sure they fit in with the genre.

I also started drafting ideas for the website.

Week 10

During this week we didn't do any filming, instead we started to plan for our digipak. Firstly we researched in to what a digipak is and the fundamentals of one. This would mean we have a much better understanding of the sorts of things we are going to need to include. One of the main things was choosing an image that wasn't to bright that when a text was put over it, the text wasn't visible. We also knew how many photos are going to be needed because we didn't want to not have enough images and have to go out again to take some more. This would waste our time and the time is going to be needed to finish our music video.

Once the research was complete, we could then focus on what we wanted our digipak to look like. This involved brain storming our ideas, and asking our peers what they think would make a good digipak for the genre of our music video. This meant we had a much clearer idea of what we are going to do when it comes to taking the images for the digipak.

 We also carried on with some editing of the music video so we could stay on top of it. We now had our replacement shots in place, and our video is starting to come together nicely.

Week 9

This week we carried on with the filming for our music video. We went to a number of different locations this week as we had a lot more time on our hands. This week we were more focused on getting shots that were not to do with the narrative as we had a lot of shots that were portraying this. This would also help to break the video up, and make it much more appealing for the audience to watch. We also re-filmed some of the shots we had from the previous week. This being due the quality not being the best and the camera being two shaky.

We also started to put our clips on the editing software. The software that we were using was adobe premier pro. We thought it would be good to put the clips on as we go so we know what parts we need to film. This is to prevent wasting time filming shots that we already have. Once we had the shots on the software we also spotted that some of them were not 100% good enough to be on our video. So the following week we are going to make the amendments.

Week 8

This week was when we decided to start filming some shots for our music video. We started off with many practice shots as we wanted to get to grips with the pace of the song, lip syncing and whether the locations we wanted to film in are suitable. By doing so it helped us to get the best shots we could. After a lot of time spent practicing the lip syncing we couldn't manage to get it completely in time with the song. After we reviewed this footage, we though it would be a good idea to play the song whilst we are filming the lip syncing parts. This helped us get the lip syncing in time with the song so it looked professional and very well done. Although this did take up time practicing, it was in fact very helpful as not only did it improve our abilities, but it also prepared us for the following days when we were going to continue to film.

We then began to start filming our actual music video and the first location we filmed at was weald country park. As our genre was indie, we wanted to create a vintage/natural feel to our video. Therefore by filming in the forest which would have natural lighting, we felt this would be very suitable for our music video. The forest had many different places for our to film with a large lake, giant wall, enclosed areas and a medium sized pond with a bridge. During the days of filming we did come across some problems. One of these was that the memory card broke and would not allow the camera to record on to it. We were able to save the shots that we had on there, but we had to purchase a new memory card in order to carry on filming the following week. This was the main problem we were faced with and the following day I bought a new memory card, so we could get back on track.

Week 7

In this week we emailed the music company in charge of James Bay. This was to make sure we could create a music video for the song. We got a reply that same day saying that we have permission to create the video. This also made sure we were not infringing any copyright laws.

I also finished task that were set by my teachers and they were;

- what music means to me
- artists in the news

We also planned our shooting schedule which would be a vital component in the success of our group. By having the shooting schedule it allow us to know exactly what shots we need to film, and when we are going to do so. This was worked around the frees that my group had so we didn't have to miss any lessons. Along with the shooting schedule we created the risk assessment sheet. This was vital so none of our group members would get harmed or injured through the filming process.

Week 6

This week we analysed the lyrics for our chosen song which is 'When we were on fire' by James Bay. We analysed each verse of the song and the choruses, this would really help us when planning our ideas of what we are going film. This being as we will know what the lyric is interpreting. We decided that the lyrics were about a boy and a girl who used to be in a relationship. Overtime they have grown apart and he is reminiscing the times when they were in a healthy relationship. The song didn't have much of a narrative as he mainly sings about the past. This meant it would be a lot harder to make a video for as we are going to have to use our imagination more than we expected.

We also started to plan our storyboard. We all input our ideas of what we wanted to be in the music video. We turned this into a mind map which was going to help us decide what should be in each shot. We spent a long time going over different ideas and deciding if they would work. To help us we also asked our peers what ideas they liked from our mind map. Once we had agreed on the shots we wanted in our video, we started the process of creating our storyboard.

I also decided to create a mind map for the indie genre, this was to give us some more ideas a long the way if we ever got stuck.

Week 5

During this week I took it upon myself to practice using the editing software that we would be using when we make our music video. The reason I chose to do this was because the previous year I only knew how to use basic tools on the software. Therefore to get the best grade possible I thought having practice with the software would help to increase this.

 I practiced with changing the speed of two different skateboarding clips. The beginning of both videos is the normal pace, and I then edited the next bit of the video to be a much slower speed. By doing this i was able to really show of the trick that the skateboarder was doing. This means the viewer can also identify and see what and how he is doing that specific trick. I believe this could be a very effective thing to put into our music video, because it stops the video from being one paced and adds a different feeling to it. This means we are able to promote specific shots we are proud of. This tool can also be used to increase the speed of clips.



During this week we also decided to brain storm ideas for the song we want to create a music video for. We decided the genre and we then had to find the song we would use. The genre we chose was indie rock, this was because all the members of our group have a passion for this genre. We also created a number of questionnaires that we gave to our peers to get their opinion on what song  they think we should create a music video for.

Week 4

 We were given a essay which we were given two lesson to complete. We had to reflect on our AS work and to analyse what our strengths and weaknesses were from our previous work. From looking back at my work I found that I didn't do enough research that would specifically help our final task. I did have the basic information but I didn't create things such as a storyboard, which would of really helped our group when creating our film opening. By creating a storyboard this year it will allow our group to know exactly what shots we are going to do, when and where. This will mean our final music video will be much more professional as it has been properly structured. This really helped me to decide on how I am going to improve for my A2 course. This would be in order to get the best grade possible at the end of it.
 In todays the lesson we were asked to recreate a digipak in groups. Throughout this lesson I researched many things about digipaks. I firstly researched the conventions of digipaks and not only would this help when creating our own digipak in the future, but it also broadened my knowledge on how to analyse digipaks because I now know what they should include. I then went on to research digipaks of different genres and I found how they are adapted for the type of album it is and the genre. During this lesson we only managed to get the planning done as we ran out of time. But we did manage to decide what digipak we were going to recreate, the location, the shots and who is going to be in the shot. This meant that next lesson we would be able to go straight into the recreation.

Week 3

We were given the task of lip syncing. We were allowed to chose what ever song we wanted and we had to record us lip syncing that specific song. I chose the song Respect by Aretha Franklin. The reason I chose this song was because I thought it was a fun and bright song to do. When I was doing this task I found it very hard to focus on what I was doing. This was because I found it very embarrassing to be filmed lip syncing. This meant it did take me a few tries to actually get the task done. But when I finally done It I was quite pleased with what I had done. I knew this song quite well so I didn't have to print any lyrics off. If I did have to do this my video wouldn't of been good, because I would have been constantly looking down at the lyrics. During this task I also helped the other people in my group by filming them do this. This helped me because I now have a better understanding for how far I need to stand when filming. This was very good practice for when It comes to the task of making the music video.

We were given the task of researching into digipaks. We were asked to gather information about what a digipak is and get some examples of them and analyse them. I have seen digipaks before as some of the albums I own have them, but I never actually knew that they were called 'digipaks'. A digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs. Digipaks are not very common anymore but they do tend to come with special edition albums. From looking at the different digipaks it has allowed me to widen my knowledge of what they include. This will allow me to create a digipak to the best of my ability when it comes to it. I also found the many different conventions of digipaks.

I decided to carry out some research on the conventions of music videos. This involved me looking at many different genres so I could really broaden my knowledge of the conventions of different music. This was also very useful because our group are not 100% sure on what genre we want to do, so by researching the conventions of a number of different ones, means when it comes to the music video we will have the research we need. I also looked at the different camera angles and shots that these genres use. This will not only broaden our knowledge but we will also be able to create a better music video due to having this knowledge. The research I carried out will also help me to create other things that will help us in the future.

Week 2

 This was our first lesson back from the six weeks holiday and we were asked to create an essay which covered the following points:

-comparing to theory
-the genre
-how did it fit with conventions
-stereotypes
-narrative, performance or concept
-did the lyrics fit
-iconography
-mise en scene
-camera work
-editing
-relating to the artist
-purpose

For my essay I decided to write about the song riptide by Vance Joy. The reason I chose to do this song is because not only did I like the song but I also really like the music video with it. It wasn't like most videos as it had its own look and feel and this drew me into the song more. The genre of this song was indie which means not many people would know about it and it would allow me to create a very good essay to thoroughly describe the song. This is also the main genre that I listen to so I would know songs that I could compare the video to.

Overall I learnt a lot from this essay because it showed me many new things of what I need to look at when analysing a music video. I also found many new conventions of music videos and how they should be applied to the specific genre. From all of this I will be able to put this into context when it comes to making our music video. Which will really help us to make a professional and appealing video that will cover all the aspects that popular videos do today.
We looked at Andrews Goodwin theory. His most famous quote is "Music video is not primarily a commodity form, but a promotional one". This theory has really broadened my approach when it come to looking at music videos. This is because I now know that not all videos are for entertainment, they are simply for promotion. I agree with Andrew Goodwin's quote because from my research I saw many videos that included products from many well known businesses. This was anything from coca cola to Dre beats. From this I will take into account his theory to make sure my music video isn't a promotional one.

We looked at what makes people a star. I really enjoyed doing this task because it allowed me to not only find out more about Frank Sinatra but also many of his achievement and how successful he has been. I really enjoyed doing this task as I could carry out lots of research into a singer I am very fond of.

The questions I developed for my star, which was Frank Sinatra were...

what is to be a star?
what gives someone start quality?
what aspects of a star can you see in your artist?
what are the biggest stars now?

5rd Draft- Digipak

Images For Our Digipak

 

This is the image that we are going to be using for our front image on the digipak. We want to use this image because it has both the main characters in it, and also there is a large space for where the writing would fit very well. Before we put this image on to the digipak we are going to edit it and crop it to the correct size.

This image is going to be used for the back cover of our digipak. We came up with this idea because we wanted to keep what we have done on the front cover of using both characters, but make it more fitting for a back cover. This is when we came up with this idea of them both walking into a dark tunnel.

For the image that would be behind the disk we decided to use this image that we took whilst we were at weald park. We wanted to use this image because of the amazing back drop which is very appealing to the eye. By having it in the middle of the digipak would make it very appealing for when the user opens the digipak. It was also a great way of showing who the artist is by having him on his own in a picture on the inside of the digipak.

These are the three main images that the user will see and we are also going to add the following pictures in to make it professional looking and interesting to look at.

Location- Weald country park

Weald Park- This was the first location we decided to film at, we chose to film here because we wanted to incorporate the forest into our video. When we brainstormed ideas we really liked the idea of filming in a forest and this was the closest one for all of us to get to. It is looked after the council therefore we knew it was going to be clean with little to no hazards. We were able to get lots of shots here over a number of days. We filmed over a number of days so we were able to get the best lighting that fit with out video. At weald park there was so many different places to film with different features that helped to make our video to be identifiable by the genre. Due to it being very close to the school it meant if we had problems with some of the shots we could go back there too re film them with ease. This would also make sure we had the best shots possible.

 

Location- Butterfly Meadows

Butterfly Meadows- This was another one of our location where we filmed, and it was a very quiet and natural place. It was a large field which had a number of hand built from wood tunnels and tepees. This was a very good location for us to film at because it fit our genre very well and it also helped to portray the image of our artist and his personality. We got a number of shots here but when we got back to school we were not happy with them. This was due to the lighting being to bright and some errors were made when filming. Therefore we went back another day when it was a lot darker and we re-filmed the shots we needed to. Due to this being a very quiet area as well, we didn't have any problems with people being at butterfly meadows so we were able to take our time to make sure the shots we got were as good as we could get for our ability.

Location- Bobbys House

 

Bobby's House- The reason we filmed at Bobby's house was because he had a cabin in his garden which had sofas, tables and other things that would make very natural shots. This would help to break up the outside shots and be very interesting for the audience. The location was very close to other areas that we wanted to film in so this was a very convenient place to film, and we didn't have to get permission from anyone to film, unlike some of the other location we have filmed in.

Locations- Brentwood Skate Park

Brentwood Skate Park- We chose this for one of the locations for our music video because we felt this would fit very well for our genre of indie. When you think of indie you picture people skateboarding and bmxing. However we didn't actually want to incorporate skateboarding and bmxing into our video as we wanted it to be based around the two main actors. Therefore we used the location to still give of the sense of skateboarding. We had to make sure we went early to the skate park due to it getting very busy in the afternoon which would mean we would not of been able to film. By going early we were sure to have no skaters or bmxers and the lighting would fit very well with the rest of the shots we had.

Font Ideas For Digipak

For our digipak it required us to choose a font that would be suitable for the artists name and the song that we were singing, on the front of the digipak. Firstly we brain stormed a number of ideas that we had so we had an idea of what we were aiming to go for. After this I used 1001fonts.com to pick a number of different fonts relating to our brain storm. And the above image was a number of font that I put together. After doing so we are going to ask a number of students which they prefer, and what they think is most suited for our genre of music video. This would very much help us choose the best font possible.

Website Draft

Risk Assessment

 

Hazard	Risk level before (L, M, H)	Risk level after (L, M, H)	Control measures
Glass on the ground were we are filming	High	Medium	To prevent this we scanned the area before we started filming and cleared any glass we saw.
Nails in wood	High	Low	Before we started filming we moved any bits of wood that could have nails in them.
Tripping in the forest with the equipment	Medium	Low	We prevented this by sharing the equipment out between the group and wearing sensible footwear.
Cars on the main road, and lanes.	High	Medium	To prevent any serious injuries from happening we took extreme care when crossing road and walking through the lanes.
Being burnt from the fire	High	Low	We took extra care when lighting the fire, and wore suitable clothing and gloves to prevent being burnt.
Filming by the river & pond	Medium	Low	To prevent falling in to the river we made sure the area was suitable and had somewhere to stand away from the water.
Falling on the tracks at the train station	High	Medium	To reduce the risk of serious/fatal injury we would make sure we film behind the safety line and only done so when it was quite to reduce being pushed on the tracks by accident.
Filming whilst in the passenger seat and hitting a pedestrian/car	Medium	Low	Whilst sitting in the passenger seat of a car the cameraman would be putting their self out therefore we made sure the roads were clear of any pedestrians and cars.
Falling off a wall whilst playing guitar	High	Medium	Before the guitarist and singer climbed on to the wall we made sure the wall was secure, not slippery and that there was no glass. Before taking any props on to the wall we made sure both people were safe before beginning filming.

Digipak Layout

A digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more discs.

This was very important to research because if we didn't we would not know how many images would be necessary in order to make complete digipak. It also shows us what images would be needed so we could then decide what we want for the front cover, back cover etc. The dimensions of the digipak is also very important because when it comes to making it, we know exactly what size to crop our image to in order for it to fit correctly with the CD disk.

From looking at this layout we can now go ahead and take our pictures and start combining it all together to finally make a fully working digipak for our artist.

Weather Updates

During this week we wanted to start creating our digipak and get the last few shots needed for our video. As the weather would be vital for a good photo we looked at the weather for the days we could film before we committed to going. As our genre is indie which portrays quite a natural feel we were not worried if it was cloudy out, but we were worried if it was raining or snowing. And from the three days above Wednesday was our best choice to film. This being as it was only cloudy and there was little to no wind at all. This meant we didn't have to worry about our shots being ruined by a sudden gust of wind or rain. We were planning to add filters to our photos therefore we were looking mainly for the days were it wasn't raining. As we didn't manage to complete both tasks in the time we had we also used Thursday to finish the shots. Thursday was also cloudy so that was fine, however there was some wind which did ruin some of shots. This meant we had too re-do them a couple of times until we were happy with what we had.

Creating Our Artists Image

By creating this spider diagram of what we want our artist to be like, this will make it much easier for us to then interpret this into our music video. We will be able to choose the clothes, props and determine how he will act throughout the music video. This should make it easier also for the audience to identify the personality of our artist. For instance he is going to be a laid back artist so we can base his acting around that. So we will make sure the actor isn't up tight and anxious about performing, we will make him look natural and very calm throughout. This will make it much easier for what our artist is going to be wearing as well, because we have a image in mind and we can adapt the outfit to fit with that. His inspirations will also affect his style because he may have a certain way of singing/playing guitar so we can also put this into the video.

The Props We Used

The main prop that we wanted to use throughout our music video was a guitar. The reasons for this was because we wanted to keep it quite basic by not using to many props, and also the song being mainly guitar in the background we wanted to portray this in our music video. During our video we used both of the above guitars. The reason for this is we wanted to show how the days were changing with the different settings of where we filmed. We felt if we used the same guitar it would say we filmed it all in one day. But by using a different guitar also and interchanging between the two, shows the differing of days. Both of the guitars belonged to two members in our group, meaning is wasn't a problem when we needed to use the guitar for filming. The guitar really helped to portray our genre to the audience as guitars in the indie genre are used a lot.