Update on Shooting Music Video - Production Schedule

After my feedback from my teacher, I have really pushed forward the idea of having Amy and Joe in a once relationship and so Wednesday night (tonight) I am going to film the parts of the music video with just Amy. The production schedule slip is what I have constructed so that I know what I need to take with me to the shoot.

Studio Logo - Developing a Record Company Logo

In order to make my ancillary products look more professional and realistic, I have completed some research into record company logos to come up with one of my own. The Reprise Records logo above is the record company that is the label for Green Day and I really like the idea of having the first letter bigger than the rest of the text. Therefore, I have decided to complete a simple logo for my record company as well (using the name of Enigma Studios that I used in my previous coursework for AS – below).



 

This is the logo I am going to use on my DigiPak and Magazine Advert:

Analysis of Existing Album Artwork - Frank Turner

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Typography Research

I have research into different fonts on the Dafont.com website (Click HERE to open link) and have narrowed down the many different styles of typeface to these six:

The reason why I haven’t used any fonts from the Microsoft Packages is because I do not think that they would suit the rock genre (unless I used a plain bold font). After asking several of the target audience members on what they think, they have said that the most suited out of them six were these three:

I have used the grey background because it is a section of a photo of a wall that I just made grey-scale (as that is the colour scheme that I am thinking of at the moment).

Re-Post of the Previous Album Cover Research - Snow Patrol/Green Day

Just to show that I produced research earlier into album artwork, this is a re-post of the two analysis that I completed earlier on in the research and planning stage:

1. Album/Single Covers Analysis - Snow Patrol:

Another part of the marketing campaign that I have to produce to promote the artist’s song release is an album/single cover with the digipak. I have only looked at the covers to gain inspiration at this point such as artistic effects and motifs that are used for popularity and links to other album covers:

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I have gained a lot of inspiration from this task because I know that I can apply my creativity to not just the filmmaking but the photography and manipulation editing of the photos as well. I particularly like the watermark effects and has even inspired me to think of that effect in my music video maybe.

2. Album/Single Cover Analysis - Comparison between the Subgenres:

In order to establish the difference between the subgenres in the Alternative Rock genre, I have compared the ‘Eyes Open’ album cover by Snow Patrol (in the Indie Rock subgenre) with the ‘21^st Century Breakdown’ album cover by Green Day (Punk Rock subgenre):

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From this task, I have learnt that the typography, colour, composition and use of motifs can really help determine what a particular audience will go for when they browse for a CD and how important the album artwork is to the sale of the song. As I am thinking of using the ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ song by Green Day, it will be the more modern and vibrant colours that I should think about; depending if that will suit the song and music video.

Analysis of Existing Album Artwork - Andrew W.K.

In this analysis, I have compared two album covers by Andrew W.K. because there is only a two year gap between the albums (and the covers are very different). I have looked at the photography used and the composition of the album cover; as well as the typography, colour and overall style.

Existing Cover Artwork - Colour Used

(Alternative Rock)


(Alternative Rock/Post-Grunge/Hard Rock)


(Indie Rock/Punk)

Existing Cover Artwork - Minimum Colour Used (B&W)

Apart from the ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Felon’ cover (last one), all of these covers are black and white (or have minimum colour). This suits the alternative rock genre because most of the songs in this genre address issues of social concern, which could be why black and white is used (for more grim purposes or to show that the issues are as clear to the bands as black and white).


(Indie Rock/Post-Punk Revival)


(Alternative Rock)


(Alternative Rock)


(Alternative Rock)


(Alternative Rock)

The last cover, by ‘Lostprophets’, has a blue colour running through it in order to contrast to the black background and allows the white text to stand out more. The effect of having streaks of colour could be quite a useful technique for my album cover.

Edited Photos of 'Whistle Way' - Possible Digipak/Advert Artwork

 These are just some images that I took while at ‘Whistle Way’and thought that I would be a good idea to try out some editing effects using Photoshop Elements. As an overview, I think that the black and white and more subtle colours work well and that the pure black and white (top one) maybe is too strong for the mood from the song. A subtle blue could work also for the Digipak design.

Mise en Scene – Costume (Light vs. Dark)

Edited Photos of 'Scare Farm' - Photoshop Elements Effects

Using one of the images from the ‘Scare Farm’ location shoot, I edited it using Photoshop Elements to see which effects might work well with the image and which do not. The one that I think suits the genre of music the most is the middle one. I think that the effect softens the picture and lightens the overall colours, making it more suitable for the song.

Typography Research - "How to Choose a Typeface" Article

How to Choose a Typeface - 'Smashing Magazine' Website

I came across this website when researching into album artwork for the rock genre. I found the information and advice on this website very useful when starting to have a look at the possible typeface to use on my Digipak/Advert in order to suit the genre and audience of the song/musician.

Production Schedule - Music Video (Whistle Way)

This is the Production Schedule for Wednesday afternoon’s filming. In this shoot, I will be filming the sequences of shots which include both Amy and Joe. I will also film many different shots so that I can choose the best suiting one for the music video during post-production. Wednesday’s shoot will be at Whistle Way.

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Shoot Schedule - Music Video

This is the overall Shoot Schedule for the music video. It excludes any photos required for the magazine advert/digipak (I will construct another Shoot Schedule for the Photography Shoot). This will really help me when filming because I know exactly what is required in each shot and so props, locations and technical kit can be arranged easily before the shooting date.

Animatic - Music Video

I have constructed this animatic using the storyboard from the previous post. I have cut them roughly to the required length on Adobe Premiere Elements (that is the software I am going to use to edit my actual music video) and have added the music track to see if there are any issues related to the storyboard. I can conclude that maybe some of the timings will be an issue (such as shots being far too long) and that I now need to gain feedback from my teacher in order to see if the storyboard needs work. Now that I have completed the storyboard and the animatic, I can now go on to produce the Production Schedule and a Shoot Schedule to help me further with the filming and post-production stages.

Storyboard – Music Video

This is the storyboard for my music video. I know that this storyboard is rough, but it shows nearly all of the information that I will need when shooting and editing. I will of course improvise some shots on the day, and I will use the timings from the ‘Lyrics and Timings’ sheet that I developed earlier to edit my storyboard.

Location Shots - 'Whistle Way'

These are the photos that I took when I visited ‘Whistle Way’. Like with ‘Scare Farm’, I took many photos because there was such a wide range of possibilities that could be done. What I did really like about the location was the colours involved with the trees and leaves. There was a mix of browns/orange colours; which I think would give a good effect because it shows that the relationship is becoming old/dying – like the leaves are. This could also be another visual metaphor so I need to take this into account when storyboarding.

Lyrics and Timings - Music Video

Using the lyrics and the track for the song that I am going to use for my music video, I have written down the approximate timings for the start of each line and indicating any instrumentals throughout the song - this should benefit me when editing and constructing the storyboard. I have given a copy of this to Joe (not for the timings) in order to make sure that he knows the lyrics and that the highlighted lyrics are going to be the ones that he will be lip-syncing to. I have asked him to go over the song and see if he can make sure that what he is lip-syncing looks convincing when he performs in the video.

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Representations - Music Video

Cinematography Ideas - 'Scare Farm'

After looking at the photos that I had taken from the location shoot, I have gained some ideas from the photos for shots that can be included for narrative meaning/understanding in my music video.

Firstly, using this shot of an empty building would have connotations to loneliness and isolation (especially if an extreme long shot is used). If there is a shot of Joe used near the beginning of the music video but at a mid shot and then after the use of the photos an extreme long shot of Joe in the middle of the empty space, the narrative would be enhanced because the audience would see that he is feeling more isolated after looking at the memories.

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Furthermore, if the weather is appropriate, backlighting could be created at the back of this building (shown in the photo below with the bright light coming through the door). This would be a really effective visual metaphor if it was possible because an extreme long shot showing Joe walking away from the camera towards the light and then turning at the last minute insinuates that his future is bright and that he is moving on. When he turns around, the bright light will add real drama to the shot and also could suggest that he will be very successful in his career as a musician – especially if he is holding the guitar and a silhouette is slightly formed.

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I will defiantly take these ideas into account when finalising my storyboard in order to create these visual metaphors just by the use of cinematography and mise en scene.