Evaluating Research & Planning // Music Video // Campaign

Editing Day 3 to Rough Cut // Music Video

Day 3-5
I edited the video for the next couple of days until I got a rough cut, which is where you have the first version of your video, which enables you to show a target audience and get feedback.

Here is our rough cut:

And here was the audience feedback:

Now:

In the lesson today I talked to Luke (head director) who gave his opinion of the video. He liked it and thought the shots all worked well however he only had a few point about the start of the song the ended. I ended cutting 8bars out of the end instrumental because I felt that it was quite repetitive, Luke suggested to open with a shot of the plain forest and then the dancers so I re-edited this and then  editing any small parts that I felt didn't work together. 

So hopefully by the end of this week our video will be done!

Editing Day 1 & 2 // Music Video

What is editing?

Editing is described as "part of the creative post production process of digital video making". The term editing derived from the traditional process of working with full, but now it increasingly involves the use of digital technology."

Day 1:
We viewed the footage that we got, we really like the shots that we got however we felt that we could ave shot some more on shoot day if we had more time. But we just had to work with what we got. We used Adobe Premiere Pro. This application was pretty easy to use once you got the hang of it, the last time I used it was last year when we edited our thriller, however editing a music video is much more difficult.

Before we could start to edit we had to match up each clip so that it was in time with the music. This mean that I had to look for the marker on the screen and the first beat of the drums, I would then drag the clip down and put it into the correct place so it started with the music and the lip-sync was correct.

Day 2:
I started editing, in this process I was the editor so I was in charge of labelling all the clips (so they were easy to find), sorting them out, choosing which ones look good and what order they should be in.
I asked India and Dom for their opinions of what I did each time I made a new section and then I worked on what ever they would say was wrong or I could improve. In this time Dom and India were working on the digi-pak and website.
With editing I had to use tools such as the blade and razor tool so I could crop clips to make it fit with the music. This was difficult at first because I had to learn how to cut on the beat, however as I went on it slowly got easier and easier.
Because our video didn't have a narrative this made editing a lot easier could I could just use the shots that looked the best at that moment.

Lip Sync & Dance Test Plus Photos & Videos Of The Day // Music Video

Shoot Day Evaluation // Music Video

Lip Sync Test // Music Video

Here is a lip-sync test I took the day before the shoot to check that our artist knew what she was doing and knew the words to the song. I think it went well because she knew all the words and even made small gestures with her arms which really fitted with the song.

Shoot Day Tomorrow!! // Music Video

Our shoot day is tomorrow so we have a list of things that we need to get done. These are:

- Check projections
- Choose costumes
- Practice dance
- Practice lip-sync
- Double check that make-up artist is available

Cast Change // Music Video

We have decided to change our cast since Sasha wasn't replying to our emails. So our new main girl is Romany:

I think that this is a good cast change because Romany is a dancer as well so she will be able to move with the beat and will be more comfortable in front of a camera.

Buying Projections // Music Video

As our music video is using projections we have had to buy them. Originally we were going to film them but because we are short of time and the weather isn't very good we decided it would be easier to buy them off a site where they would be copyright free. 

The school already had fire footage so all we needed to buy was clouds, water and forest footage. 

These are only about 10 seconds long however we are going to loop them to make them the length of the song. 

Creating A Draft Website // Campaign

In the lesson today India and I started to create a draft website for our campaign. We made a time-lapse of us creating our draft. We had to use images that I already had from previous photo-shoots however for our actual website we will use our own photo-shoot with our artist.

Website To Do List // Campaign

Things we need to do/discuss for our website:

- Social media: create twitters, face books, etc for our artist

- Photoshoot (so we have images to upload on our website)

- A design plan (so we can easily see what the final product should be)

- Behind the scenes photos (for audience to see artist in "natural state")

- Research fonts (use website Dafont.com)

- Web layout (use wix.com or wordpress.com)

Website Design Drawings // Music Video

Email About Projections // Music Video

For our projections instead of shooting our own footage (because the weather it to dark and rainy to do so) we are using a website called video hive.net  this enables us to search through lot of stock footage that we are able to buy from just $8.

I emailed the head director of all the music videos and the technician Matt to ask if the footage I have chosen was okay to use. In the file attached I linked all the videos that we were considering using:

He emailed back later on that day:

This means we have one thing checked off our list of things to do!

What To Consider When Designing A Hompage // Campaign

Researching Homepages // Campaign

In our group we have each research an artist homepage. India has chosen an artist similar to ours and Dom has chosen an artist that is of a complete different genre to ours so we can get a variety of design ideas. The artist Phoebe Ryan is a similar artist to ours so therefore I am going to analyse her homepage:

Some ingredients that are featured on the home page:

• Social media websites 

• Her name

• A picture of her 

• Her Instagram 

• Videos

• Newsletter

• Tour

I think that she has included all the key features in her website and made it really individual and graphic. I really like how the main picture takes over the whole page and is the first thing you see is her face and her name. I really like the font she has used because it is very alternative. I think that choosing key features to put on a homepage is very important because you want your page to be very visual but at the same time make people aware of different icons they can click on. She has all her icons at the top of the page which keeps the page looking very neat and organised but at the same time gives a great visual effect and by using a transparent theme for her icons it again makes it very graphic and visual. I also feel that you arn't bombarded by information and the viewer can choose what to view in their own time.

Her Instagram has been given more prominence because it is at the bottom of the page where you can click up to view it. This is probably because Instagram is very popular so people would want to look at her images and see what she has been up to. She is also probably more "live" on Instagram then any of her other social media sites so that might be why that is one of the main parts her homepage.

The style represents the artist because it gives a very organic feel to it and I think that the page looks individual, graphic and creative. I think that you can also see the artist personal style come through and there is a recurring colour of green throughout the homepage which makes her seem more grounded. 

Digi-Pak Colours // Campaign

For our digi-pak our main colour is going to be blue. I personally think that choosing the right colour is very important because it can say a lot about the artist and their image. I chose to use the colour blue because it is symbolic of the good ideology we want our artist to have.

What does blue mean:

Here are some other colour meanings: 

We thought that blue would be best because it represents our artist the most and we like the ideals that it brings with it. 

Outfits // Music Video

For our music video we were thinking of having our main girl dressed up in 80's clothing when she is on the plain background with just the spot lights. By doing this it makes our video a bit more interesting and gives our artist a indie and different look that most people wouldn't normal choose. We thin that this will look good as our song sounds quite 80's so by adding the clothing it will show that she is trying to break out of the modern day mold for most artist and try something different like going back to 80's pop music.

This is the look we will try to achieve:

Fonts // Campaign

For our dig-pak we have to decide on a font for our artists name and the albums name. I went onto a site called Da Font to do some research into fonts.

With my design I put tails on the end of my letters however, I have decided that this looks a bit old-school so we may change it to a more modern day font. The tails on the end of writing is called serif and without the tails its called sans-serif.

I have screen shot some fonts that I thin will work well with our design:

These fonts are all really good because they are sans serif so will give a more modern day feel to our album and make it seem less mainstream which is the look we are going for. 

Digi-pak Designing // Campaign

In class we were making our designs for our digipak. We each made our own this was my design.

I decided to keep the triangle theme the same within the cover and keep the same colours running through it. I chose to have a picture of her on the front cover to showcase the artist but to also have some graphic designs around her to not make it look so stereotypical the graphics will also help it to look more indie and different which also is a feature of our artist. 

We have decided to go with my design since Indias design has some elements of mine so we can combine them together. For example the triangles and the colour blue are both present in our designs.

This is India's design:

Digi-Paks // Campaign

What is a digi-pak?

A digi-pak is a modern approach to CD packaging and allows for inclusion of more information about the band/artist.

For our campaign we have to think about if we want to do an online dig-pak or a tradiontial digi-pak.

A digi-pak adds value so we have to think about branding and image and we have to encourage our target audience to spend their own money on it.

Some key points we need to consider:

- The artists name needs to be large and clear
- Use the same fonts throughout the digi-pak
- Easy to read
- Promotional stickers
- Track listing (same font as album name or artist)
- Product info (copyright, year of production, web address, price, producer, charity campaign)
- The image of the artist needs to be shown through the whole dig-pak


Here are some front covers of similar artists:

I really like this album cover because it is representative of the artist and because she is in the album over the audience get a sense of what her music may be like and gives them a connection to the artist. I also really like the background of the photo because it is very simple but at the same time it makes you wonder where it is taken and why they chose this background.
The font gives the whole image a organic look to the album and its not a font you see everyday.

This album cover breaks all the traditional conventions because there is no artwork and we don't have a picture of the artist all we see is the name of the album and the artists name. This is very striking because it is not like a normal digi-pak cover.
I also think just using the monochrome colour scheme also makes it eye-catching because you expect an album cover to look colourful.














I really like this cover because of the muted background and the way they have used the lines really simply but they are still effective. I also like how the artist stands out from the background and is the main focal point.

I also think that think that the font is very effective because they are very different from one another but at the same time they work well together.

Shot List // Music Video

Why Do A Shot List? // Music Video

By creating a shot list our entire production will run more efficiently because everything will be listed out.

A shot list is similar to a storyboard because it identifies whats being shot and can be easily given the the cast and crew so they know where they should be.

When creating a shot list you have to look at your storyboard carefully and take notes about what type of shot is involved, the set, who is it in, etc.

You have to write a description of the shot followed by all the other details, this is important because it will keep you organised about what to shoot.

Here is a video I found that describes how to create a shot list:

Call List // Music Video

Our call list isn't very detailed at the moment because out video is quite basic as we only have 3 people. However, a call list is important for the cast to know when and where they will be needed on the day of the shoot.

Shooting Schedule // Music Video

I created a shooting schedule so on the day we know what to do and who we need. A shoot schedule is important because we need to know what is happening and when it is happening so we don't have our artist/dancers hanging around for too long.

It also helps us keep organised and makes sure we get all the set-ups we need.
I have left half an hour between each set up so we can put up the next set and do Sasha's makeup.

Filming Roles // Music Video

There are four key roles of music video production these are:

• Director (responsible for organising and instructing the actors)
• Cameraperson (works with the cameras)
• Art Director (responsible for location, props, costume, makeup, etc)
• Producer (responsible for overseeing all the aspects of the shoot e.g. organising the other members of the production team and making sure the shoot runs smoothly)
• Sound Playback and Lighting Desk 

One of my favourite video directors is Tim Mattia 

He is a director and photographer, I really like his style because all his videos had a certain look to them that makes them really visually interesting and make you think about a deeper meaning.

Here are two of my favourite videos by him:

I really like these videos because the style is so different to most pop videos and I love the angles he uses and the editing style. However, the director is not the only one who worked on his video, like we are going to have he would have a cameraperson, art director, producer and sound playback and lighting person, so although the director is the main person credited on videos the other roles are just as vital as media production is a collaboration of people with specialised skills who are able to manufacture the right look to get the a good representation of the star image for the 'pop promo'.

What Filming Roles Have We Taken:

Director: Dom

Cameraperson: All of us

Art Director: Me and India

Producer: Me

Sound Playback & Lighting Desk: India

We decided on the roles by what we are all best at, however, because we only have three people in our group we have had to share some roles which is a good thing because it means we will all experience different aspects of producing and creating a music video.

Contextual Link - Fifth Element // Music Video

We got inspiration for our idea from the movie The Fifth Element:

In this scene you can see all the elements surrounding the girl. This is represented by podiums with the elements on. This was the basis for our idea because we originally had the elements surrounding her but then we discovered that the studio was to small to do this so we have to shoot them separately. 

This also shows the main girl as a saviour so this is reprinted in our video by the lyrics and the deeper meaning of it.

Casting List // Music Video

Our cast is consisting of a boy and girl dancer and one main singer.

The main girl is Sasha Minyalio:

 The girl dancer is Tash Christensen:


 The boy dancer is Callum Henderson:

Animatic Evaluation // Music Video

I think that our animatic worked well and was a good representation of what we wanted to achieve. 

Here are some words that sum up the evaluation of it:

Our animatic enabled us to see what shots worked well and how important the timing of them were, it was also a good visual representation of what our video is going to look like and it makes us see the repetition of music videos for example our chorus shots were the same everytime but the projections up would be different. 

Ideas About a Digipak // Campaign

We had some ideas about what to have, on the front cover we are going to have the singer on the front and an image on the back.

We thought about what to have as the other images, other then a picture of her, and we came up with using some of my old photography photos of flowers on fire.

We thought that the simplicity of these images worked really well because they have some impact but at the same time they simple.
We also thought that it was a good image for our artist to have because it is different to anything people have seen before so they will be interested in our album.


If we use this it will have a fine art feel to it because there isn't a person in the image. This means that it can have more symbolism to it and be open to interpretation.

Animatic Response // Music Video

We decided that we should get audience feedback on our animatic to make sure that our look is right and to make sure that audiences likes our video.

Our animatic: 

Our Questions:

1 - What moment in particular did you enjoy and why?

2- What moment in particular did you dislike and why? How would you changed it?

3 - What is your overall opinion about the music video? 

4 - What were your initial thoughts when the music video started?

5 - Do you like this song and do you think music video suits it? 

6 - What do you think about set designs and the use of projections?

The Responses:

Georgia McKnight

1 - What moment in particular did you enjoy and why?

- Enjoyed the water moments - felt they would be very interesting and fun

2- What moment in particular did you dislike and why? How would you changed it?

- Didn't particularly dislike any moments, it all went well

3 - What is your overall opinion about the music video? 

- Very interesting but have to look at editing more closely 

4 - What were your initial thoughts when the music video started?

- Thought "oo, what is this? whats happening?"

5 - Do you like this song and do you think music video suits it? 

- Yes, suits it very well

6 - What do you think about set designs and the use of projections?

- Like set design didn't realise there were projections (due to drawings)

Phoebe Wright

1 - What moment in particular did you enjoy and why?

- Enjoyed the air moments - cool to have them on the floor - would be interesting to see how it turns out 

2- What moment in particular did you dislike and why? How would you changed it?

- Didn't really dislike any moments, I liked it all

3 - What is your overall opinion about the music video? 

- Very creative, like the idea of elements 

4 - What were your initial thoughts when the music video started?

- "Whats going on? Oo thats cool"

5 - Do you like this song and do you think music video suits it? 

- Yes

6 - What do you think about set designs and the use of projections?

- Like the set designs but hard to see that it was projections just because it was drawings

Initial Idea Digi Pak // Campaign

This is a digipak that Dom made as a starter for our digipak design. I really like the starting point that this has presented us however I think that we need to make some changes to get a colour theme and to make the artist the main focal point on the front page.

We agreed that trying to find a jetty and to shoot there is going to be very difficult to do because we have to consider lighting, weather, etc. We also want the covers to look similar so they blend into one making it look like a complete set.

Animatic // Music Video

We edited our animatic and uploaded it to YouTube. An animatic helps us to see what shots we need and in what order.

Set Design // Music Video

Dom created this presentation of our set design. This just shows our ideas in more depth.

DILEMMA // Music Video

Because we are using projections we need to find images that we can use. However, one of the artist directors said that we have to use our own footage otherwise we will have to pay for it.

So, therefore me and Indie are going to film our own footage.

Over halfterm India is going to film the water element since she lives by the sea, I am going to film the fire element and the earth element and when we get back to school we will film the air element.

We will shoot this on GoPros

Shoot Day // Music Video