Ancillary Task; ideas.

Album cover
This is the basic outline for what my group and I want the CD album cover to look like, however this is only the first sketch therefore it will end up changing throughout the coming weeks. We also have a magazine design to do.
The image below (of the leaves) shows our idea of what we want to put on the front album. It shows individuality because we used real leaves to write windjammer on.

Magazine
Here's a photo collage that my group and I have agreed on to have on the magazine cover.

Of course, it will look better than this, but the idea of having this on the magazine cover is that it will also link to the music video (as we have old photos flashing throughout) and also on the album cover, we are planning on putting on a few old photos. 

Editing; how it's going

So far, so good. There has been a few disagreements however we've learnt that we can't always have the way we want it, therefore settling with different people's opinions. We've taken into account the feedback other people have given (for example teachers and other peers).
Here's an outtake video that Amy King and myself did when filming the cutting of a pumpkin; funny face

The group and I have made a fair few changes compared to the storyboard, for example we have more performance in the music promo then originally planned. Also, we've added in some different shots that are not on the storyboard list, teddy bear (Lauren spinning shot)

Filming; the days

So, the filming is now (almost) completed! Hooray! Everything ran smoothly however, the weather was definitely not on our side these past two days because it was misty, cold and wet. We did not let the typical British weather ruin the filming. Here are a few images to give you an inside into what we did. Also, taking a variety of different photographs enables us to decide what we want our final digipak design to look like.

Photographs were taken as well as filming. This gives the photograph a more realistic view rather than having someone posing for the camera all the time.

Awaiting the signal to throw the balloons in the air, cheeky grin from Lauren there.

Guitar in the tree, an artistic view? Perhaps an idea for the digipak later on in the design.

 Abby and Laura, getting equipment back up the rock side and also, stumbling around slipping on the rocks! Fun!

Lauren being cute, almost child like expression with grasping the teddy bear in her heads peering over the top

Behind the scenes, checking that the footage taken was good enough for us to keep! Amy looking very intellectual here.  

 Location, Rutland Water, as you can see it was misty over the waters and also the due is visible on the grounds, however was still the perfect location

 Behind the scenes, awaiting queue to start filming

Lauren, Abby and Laura playing childhood games sitting on a picnic blanket (in fairness i wouldn't sit on that wet floor!)

Lauren, yet again being cute running around with the teddy on her shoulders

 Lauren's the perfect girl to play a childish role. The little cheeky smile and the way she holds the teddy bear!

 Abby and Laura, sisters at play!

 I love Abby's face in this!

Planning; schedule for the day

Monday 7th November;
This day is the day dedicated to the performance side of our music video. For our music video, we need to make sure that the performer keeps any acting simple and that we know he is comfortable in his surroundings. When coming to props, the performer needs to make sure that he has a guitar to show the acoustic genre.

Tuesday 8th November;
This is the day we've decided to film the actors. Actors need to be able to act like children and enable the transition between performer, song/lyrics and narrative to run as smoothly as possible. Actors need to make sure they have the suitable props they need in order for the child like impression to come across in the audiences' eyes.

Weather;
We need to bare in mind that at this time of year the weather can be an absolute nightmare (unpredictable) therefore us as a group need to communicate with both actors and performer to make sure they know to bring warm clothes and some waterproofs so that they are as comfortable as possible. Also, the weather can sometimes have an effect on what we want to do and may also damage the equipment we are using, in this case, the group and I need to protect everything we have.

Planning; costume for actors

For our actors/actresses, we want them to be able to pull across a childish appearance throughout the music video. To help us do this, we need to keep in mind both costume AND props that they may have/hold to show the child like memories in the video. We want them to be able to show individuality and pull across the different ways in which people lived their lives when they were younger. The idea of our music video is 'childhood memories' therefore we are coming up with ideas from our actors/actresses to help us bring ideas together.
Costumes we want for our actors/actresses;
These may include...
Pig Tails - 
Colourful - 
Child girl clothing - 
Child boy clothing - 

Props may include items such as teddy bears, Christmas decorations, birthday cake etc.

Planning; costume for performer

For the performer in our music promo we want to keep it 'individual'. This is usually the look any acoustic artist would go for throughout their music promo (as demonstrated by Ed Sheeran). The style is usually laid back, however it can also look fairly smart, the idea of having a 'laid back' approach to their style is so that the audience pay more attention to what the artist is playing and the lyrics rather than concentrating on their style of clothing. An acoustic artist express themselves through their lyrics rather than what they wear (unlike genres such as rap and rock)




In our music promo, we want our performer to be able to pull off this look, however we also want our performer to be comfortable with the way he looks. We've chosen a simple checkered shirt (long sleeved), beige trousers and perhaps a coat (if it is cold). This look isn't too outstanding as it ties in with the modern day clothing that males wear.

These photos may not portray across my point very clearly however, you can see what i'm trying to get at.

Planning; Locations

For our music promo, we need wide open spaces. Now we can't guarantee we'll have fantastic weather on the days of the filming however we are going to go;
Burghley house grounds (Stamford)

 

Burghley house was chosen as one of our locations because the area that it is set in is perfect for our performance side to the music video. However, we do not plan on using the actual building in our music video as it will not go with the story line (it will look out of place) This place lets our minds be creative, the amount of trees, open spaces and wildlife, anything is possible. For example, getting a dear in shot would be perfect as it shows a calm and relaxing atmosphere (fitting in with the song perfectly)

Rutland Waters (and other woodland areas such as Bourne Woods)

Rutland Water and Bourne Woods are the areas that we are going to be filming the childhood memories in. We've chosen these locations because they both have wide open spaces situated next to it and also have different areas that are perfect to film in. For example, at Rutland Water, there is a perfect lake to be able to do the skimming stone shot in. We also felt that these locations are good for creative work, let our minds run wild and that we can get a range of different shots for each childhood memory (so different locations for one memory and see which one works out the best)

Other small bits and bobs we are going to do individually at our houses.

Streets and houses are perfect for shots such as the bike ride and Halloween. We plan on filming shots for Christmas, carving the pumpkin and sweets in individual homes (also pets if we can get any) As well as them, we plan on filming the bike and ghost down the street (typical shots of when you're a child, first bike ride, dressing up for Halloween).

Planning; Shot List

Intro-
Family photographs
Slow motion zoom out from performer holding guitar
(Performance)

Verse 1-
Bike ride
Birthday/ birthday cake
Eating ice cream
(Performance)

Verse 2-
Skimming stones
Spinning
(Performance)

Verse 3-
Stepping stones/ paddling water
More old photographs
Holding hands
Play ground games
(Performance)

Verse 4-
Fair shots
Building blocks /drawing
(Performance)

Verse 5-
Halloween- pumpkin/ sweets
Ghost/ woods

Verse 6-
Focusing on lights
Eyes closing
Day ending
Balloons

We may not stick to this shot list entirely however, as our idea for the music video is for childhood memories we can therefore place shots where we think fits best. At the moment we think this feels best for the song as its in a seasonal order. Also, the ones I think would fit best are the shots at the end (because of the lyrics).

Planning; Storyboard

Click to enlarge

Audience Research; the feedback, continued

Audience Research; the feedback

After placing our questionnaire on facebook, I managed to gather some information from friends and family. Here are the responses I received off people;
Lizi Howard -
Female,
16 - 21
Ed Sheeran - Lego House (Official Video + Acoustic Version), Coldplay - Paradise
A track thats purely voice and single instrument - No post-editing to song. Calm.
Mainly Performance shots, Non dramatic storyline. Nature, all eyes on the singer.
Mid, Close, and Instrument shots.
Surrounded with nature, rivers, fields, trees, with a happy, warm welcoming atmosphere

Jason Rushton -

male 

16-21, 

rihanna's new one,

 older fashioned music, most likely live performance,

 closeup,

 stage etc

Tamara Taylor - Female. 

16-21.

 Recent videos – Enter Shikari’s sssnakepit, LMFAO – Sexy and I Know it.

 I associate people like Birdy and Lana Del Ray with Acoustic. (whether this is right is a different matter.. haha) 

My expectations are like guitars, slow music, peaceful scenary, light colour scenes. 

Long shots in acoustic videos.

I expect like forests and open spaces for acoustic videos

As you can see, some people were more helpful than others, however this is able to help us with our final idea, and helps us define what people expect to see

Audience Research; the questionnaire

What gender are you?

Male/ Female

What age range are you?

10-15

16-21

22-30                        

31-40

41-50

50+

What recent music videos have you watched and enjoyed?

What do you associate with the acoustic genre?

What are your expectations of an acoustic music video?

What shot types do you expect in an acoustic music video?

Long shot

Close up

Mid shot

Other

What locations do you expect to see in an acoustic music video?

What images/ thoughts are created by this song?  (Play song)

Here is the questionnaire that my group and I felt were the type of questions we needed to know. It gives us a good idea one what our audience wants and expects from our final piece.

Planning; shots

Planning; test shots, videos and images

Today, Abby, Amy and I went out to Bourne Woods and a field area to do a few test shots to see how well things would go and get the different areas types we need. So in these test shots we've done a few photographs and a few videos, these are displayed below. I've included both good and bad photos for some of them (like the balloons)

 This ghost image is a brilliant way of showing what children did for halloween. Of course we've not used a child because of security reasons however, this image above portrays a child behaviour. There are tester videos below to show how we got on with this.

 These three images displayed above are different shots of Abby and Amy throwing balloons in the air (perhaps resembling when a child lets go of their balloon or letting go loads in the air). Out of the three images i prefer the first one, this is because the lighting in the last two are too bright and also, in the third one we can see a glare from the sun on the lens.

Test video shots;

 

Analysis of a music video; presentation

 Prezi Presentation

Task: To present an analysis of a music video of your choice (preferably of the same genre of the artist we have chosen).

Here is the presentation Abby, Amy and I presented to the rest of our peers. The idea of this task was so that we can relate an artist of the same genre type to the artist we are basing the media production on. In our case Ed Sheeran was the acoustic artist we chose. We chose him because the music videos he does are different compared to what you'd usually see from an acoustic artist. These print screen shots just sum up what we have done on the prezi.