How close was my digipak to my planning?

I think i did a good job in capturing mu initial ideas of the pictures into the panel. The majority of the pictures i had planned to look like that and therefore i only had to think of a suitable theme. I also believe that my poster is realistic and suits my genre of music fairly well. It would have helped if i had previously thought about it as it played a bigger role than i had expected. The video also came out really well an i'm very happy that the new narrative worked, also by incorporating the 80s VHS into parts, it gave the video more of a flow and meaning. Over all i'm very pleased with the final product. Not only have i complete the coursework, i have also learnt about the music video industry and codes and conventions of indie rock and how to music influences videos. Learning Photoshop has also been very rewarding as i can now use it in the future.

Music Video - Fluorescent Adolescent

Our Finished music video

Digipak Complete

Digipak

Poster

Digipak Poster

The poster was the last thing i edited and i didn't have any plan for what i was going to do. i felt that it was imperative to use Josh and Pete on the poster as they're the band. This became rather challenging to make as i took all my pictures of the pair in landscape, the poster need to be portrait. Luckily, i was able to re scale the landscape picture into this poster template. The text was also a crucial role played, in determining how good the poster looked for the normal person. As the golden text blended in with Josh and Pete, i decided to import a black box and put the majority of my text n here. The gold compliments the black, making it incredibly easy to read and stand out from the picture. I also got PNGs of Spotify and Apple music and added them on to give it more of an advertising look. This poster also didn't have the circle edit present as i thought it would look weird on the poster.

Poster

Digipak Back

The back panel was hard fr me to start initially. At the studio, i didn't take enough picture for my digipak that i thought were suitable for the final product. This was obviously a huge drawback as i needed to keep the same theme throughout. I decided on having a tree in the center of the square and have 6 songs on each side of the trunk and then applying the circle edit onto it. However when taking pictures of the tree, i had found that it really wouldn't look right. The other panels are inside the studio and by having a random tree would lack in continuity. i then decided that some kind of light would perhaps work and if i almost made it feel like it was linked to the studio it could work. Near my house, there's a subway underpass. The lights in there worked particularly well, as the location is yet unknown. It looked authentic and fits with the other panels nicely. However, editing the original image was proving quite the task as changing the colour of a white light is difficult. I decided to make the image yellower, giving it some kind of retro feeling to it. Which coincided with the Amp panel as well as the drum kit. Like the other panels, it was predominantly blue, i liked the overall outcome as the blue is light and dark, the further down the wall you get. For the back cover, you also need all the codes and conventions of a typical back cover. The barcode, digital disc and record label were all very easy to obtain from Google. Their size made it very easy to experiment with certain positions and being able to move them with ease, The binders were very fiddly to create as the text also had to be legible and easy to read. Considering i didn't have a very good idea for this panel, i think it's worked well and fits with the other pictures. The track list took an extremely long time to complete. As i wanted to use the same font as all my other text, with the gold texture. I needed to use Dafont.com. This website has thousands of free fonts that are easy to access and are clean. I got 12 random songs and typed them in the same font. However, to make them work i needed to screenshot the page and erase everything, bar the font. This was an extremely tedious task as i just repeated the process over and over. I then re scaled all 12 text to the same size and made them all one layer. This allows me to move them with ease and means i can add the gold just the once, instead of 12 times. In general i'd have like the text to be bigger, but the gold blends in with the yellow circle making it impossible to read easily.

Digipak Josh and Pete

This panel is my least favourite from them all. Admittedly, it was this picture of another one of Pete and Josh i wasn't too keen on. The format is there and this is how i imagined it to look, however, editing this image felt tedious and i was very unmotivated to edit this one. The main reason is because they are far away from each other and because the picture was taken in the studio we filmed our video, the backdrop is just black. I was thinking on cutting the pair out and moving them onto a different canvas but it wouldn't look right. As the picture was so bright i decided to attempt to keep it that bright using cyan and other light blues. However this made Pete's head glow blue. I couldn't make the circle stretch over both faces as it would look too big. Like the front cover, i made Josh's face slightly more tanned than it was just to add a more realistic depiction to his face. The picture lacked everything, editing it was hard as nothing in the picture influenced my ideas. I needed to do something so i added a paper texture, which is somewhat visible, the dark rectangle is part of the effect. It just made the picture look a little better, i later added the mist and changed it to be green. It adds another dimension to the image but i'm still not very pleased with the image on the whole. I did start to edit a microphone to take the place of this panel, however i felt that i needed Josh and Pete on more than one panel as they're the artists. I think that if i was able to go back to the studio, i'd have really thought about this picture and made it work a lot better. Instead of them being located next to the wall, maybe the drum kit or the mixing desk. Even though i'm not impressed with this pnel, i believe it still fit with the digipak as a whole and works. The lighter blue implies the range of shades i've used.

Digipak Front

The front panel was also just like the other panels, the same theme is constantly ran throughout. Furthermore the different shades of blues on different panels allow the project to have a different feel to it. I believe that having the same colour outside the inner circle would create a tedious looking digipak that only carries different pictures. This was the first panel where i used text and all the editing techniques. This took the longest to create, as i expected due to its importance. Being the front cover, i had to create an engaging and bold atmosphere that would realistically attract customers to the album. When i started editing the blue on, i noticed the brightness of Pete's jacket and Josh's overcoat, they coincided each other very nicely. This could hint to their different roles within the duo perhaps. Little concepts like that can really develop though processes and question the position of other edits. I also liked the thought that the drum sticks bring the 2 images together. The image within the circle was darkened and i added a hint of orange to the overall image. Making them both look quite tanned. However it looks realistic the orange compliments the outer blues. In the bottom right, i added a splash edit and converted it into a light purple, the darkness of the overcoat and the vibrant purple adds necessary depth to the picture, as well as the mist. I interpret the mist as sort of a cloud, this is relevant as the band is called The Run Ups, this was totally a coincidence. I strongly believe that the golden text is suitable and easy to read. I had encountered a problem when deciding the type of colours i want that coincide with blues, i tried silvers, whites and greens before thinking of gold. deciding what side the album name went was my next task. I attempted going center under The Run Ups, however the M was hard to read from the white jumper Pete was wearing. I didn't want the text going across the top of the image either as it would look k=like the name of the band instead of the album. I attempted to add the element of blue flames across the bottom to hide the white jumper but this made the piece look childish.

Digipak Disc

For this panel, i didn't really know what exactly to do as i didn't want to have the same theme as the other panels, for example the circle. Finding a suitable CD template was easy, however unlike the other 5 panels, this one is a circle, consequently, it's more fiddly as it all has to fit within a curve instead of a line. i decided to have a blue background, that wasn't a solid blue as that would look boring and very unprofessional. At first i found the background that i wanted. It was a blue and black that fitted very nicely with my theme throughout. I had to think of something to add to the disc as the circle element wasn't present. I decided, as my first option, to have the album name " Millennials " repeated around a silhouette of Josh and Pete. However, this was a lot harder to make than i had expected and the final piece looked as if it was placed randomly. I then decided to put the album name at the bottom of the disc  4 times and make it 25% more visible each time, causing a gradual progression. This looked really clean but yet again. It didn't look right, the disc was missing something. I asked around my class mates and they thought that i could add an image of Josh and Pete. I used the image from another panel, which was already edited blue, and put it over the blue and black background. As the picture that i used cut the top of Josh's hair off, I decided to put a gold bar through the middle. This not only covers up the photo graphical mistake but gives a clean and sophisticated feel and look to the disk. I used a gold bar as my text was also gold. Using the same technique i used for creating the circle. I was able to re purpose it for text. This gives another dimension and layer of texture to the text and piece in general. As for deciding where the text goes, i found this challenging. In such a tight space i had to include both " The Run Ups" and "Millennials" I originally decided to locate The Run Ups at the very top, smaller than the Album name. However when i conducted audience feed back, i was advised to change the positions. I am very happy with how this panel has turned out. It has also developed my knowledge and understanding of how to get already made projects into a different file and how important it is to get text in the correct places. This was my favourite panel to create as the overall look is the best, in my opinion.

Digipak Amp

For the Amp panel i wanted to manipulate the colour of the amp quite a lot. The original colour allowed me to experiment with a huge range of colours and brighnesses. I decided to locate the circle layer of center, and over the VOX. This gives the image something else instead of just the diamond pattern that was located on the front of the amp. I'm very happy that i decided to use the amp as a panel as its relevant and looks crisp. The original colour of the mesh was a light red, the diamonds were gold and so was the bar, dividing the 2 half's. I introduced the saturation element to the amp picture and it caused the colours to stand out more. This coincided with the enhancing of the colour red leaves a some kind of 3D fuzz on the golden diamonds. I then applied the " Create clipping mask " to the amp and changed the size of the circle. I don't want to have the same size circle, same location of circle and same colour blue throughout. As the indie rock genre is typically very diverse and DIY. I thought it would perhaps work with the specific theme that my panels offer. After dragging on the amp again, i went for a dark and light blue look to the overall picture, this was influenced through the use of a lens flair. I took the picture with flash on as the room we hot in was generally dark with inconsistent lighting. The flash therefore was reflected off the golden bars of metal. However it wasn't that identifiable as a reflection. It wasn't my plan to add the lens falir to begin with. However i was playing around with one of my last panels and came across the effect under "render." At first i attempted to have the lens flair as bright and as obnoxious as possible. Howver this only ruined the picture making the right hand side unidentifiable as an amp. I then descaled the flair and the intensity down to around 30%. This accounts for a much more realistic flair that's appropriate. I didn't know what kind of effect i wanted for this image as i thought it looked very good with out and edited image, However i found some kind of dust or smoke effect that i linked subtly into the bottom right of the amp. I lined it up to fit perfectly in the corner. However, when i was making this panel, i didn't account for the final product to be in a square and therefore, the right hand side has been cut. The smoke still works in my opinion but it doesn't look as good before i cropped it. Like i said i didn't want to go other the top on this one, this has resulted in me barely editing the image. Overall i am very happy with the outcome of this image and even though i've not added anything massive to this panel, i've used new types of adjustments creating an unique and fresh look through the lens flair.

Digipak Drums

After completing the drum panel with the original idea, i found that the picture doesn't really look edited and therefore my marks will be sacrificed. Instead i thought of another creative approach to the same theme i had about having two layers with a shape in the middle to add depth to the image. I decided to start with the image of the drums as it was one of the  better images and if the theme didn't fit the drum then i could change themes easier than if i had edited a panel with Josh and Pete. I started of with the original image of the drums and instantly thought that the original image is too light and vibrant for my ideal image. I changed the brightness, Exposure, Vibrance, Hue/Saturation and colour balance. These all come under "image" on the top bar, making them very easy to access. These allow you to edit the colour of the whole image. I had also learned from my friend how to make an image go inside a shape. This was initially very hard and confusing to get my head round but after a few attempts it became easier. This editing technique saved me huge amounts of time on all 6 panels. I edited the first layer ( The layer where the circle was present ) and made the drums more golden and dark, my desired idea. It gave a crisp and rich feel to the picture which wasn't there when i took the picture. I really liked the layer and was proud with it. I then Imported a cirle from Google and dragged it over the part of the first layer that i wanted to have inside of the circle. I then right clicked on the circle layer and pressed " create clipping mask." This then cuts the Image down into the size of the circle. Then all you have to do is drag the original image across from files and you get the theme i wanted from the start. I decided to apply the black and white affect but i knew it would be too simple and to be honest, i didn't like it that much. I wanted to keep the "indie" feel about the project and so i thought about appropriate colours other than black and whit

e. The first colour was a light pink but this didn't look the part, the pink didn't compliment the circle aspect very well, the pink was also extremely faded and washed. I decided to look around on Google to see what colours work throughout the indie rock and i didn't see many blues. So i decided to see if a darkish blue worked, created in the same way as the first layer through colour balance and what have you, and i ended up with his. I was very pleased with the overall look. I asked for audience feedback and on the whole they thought the blue theme worked very well, but they did want me to add more textures to deepen the textures of the picture. The circle aspect had one unexpected positive in my opinion. As it was technically a different picture, if i located that layer at the top and then added more effects to the blue layer. The edit would not enter the circle, creating an effect that looks better that what it actually is. I then added 2 more images from Google into the image, these were added to introduce more textures. I added a frosty texture which lightened the overall image and also gave a somewhat gritty and papery effect, i then decided to add a smudge effect, I'd then filter that to a light cyan colour so the light and dark blue would compliment each other. However it was too visible so i later reduced the fill and opacity to incorporate it subtly.

Starting my Digipak

Over the weekend, i started my first panel for my digipak aspect of the project. Using photoshop from home was a new experience as i've only used it on the macs in school. There were many things that i found challenging with the software which restricted my development of skills on the software. I started out with the basic idea of having a picture of a drum kit. I'd duplicate the original image so i could alter one and then keep the original without and adjustments. I wanted to make the duplicated layer black and white, a common theme in the indie rock genre, and have the coloured one underneath it. My plan was to edit the bottom layer and then erase a square of the black and white layer, exposing the coloured box. I did this with relative ease as i've not used photoshop in this way before. Learning photoshop is key for this project and i need to develop my ideas somewhat more. After browsing indie rock digipak, i came to the conclusion that the imagine in my head was suitable and highly realistic of already released album covers. I then decided to play with the colours of the bottom layers a bit and just get used to what different tools and adjustments actually do to a picture. In tomorrows lesson, i will ask my peers for any feedback, i'm expecting a lot to be said, which will further aid my judgement on my overall theme, which will hopefully allow me to gain a few more marks. As a beginner i'm glad we chose to do indie rock as the editing of the digipak won't be as drastic as on a pop album or a disco.

Editing Catch up

This week, after the holiday break, we came in with our new narrative footage which we intended to edit. On Wednesday 3rd, we uploaded all the footage and started to put it together and organise the files on iMovie. We had to delete all the footage on there already because of our new footage. We did this fairly efficiently and we had 2 hours to edit. By the time we had sorted everything out and started to bring the new footage in, we only had about an hour left. In this hour, we started putting the early clips in, sieving through all the footage and editing them down. We had filmed some things after they happen in the video, which was annoying because we had to keep going up and down on the footage in the top left. As there's 3 of us in the group we all want different things. This can be frustrating because if i edit something, the other 2 may not like it and they will change it, although, as we have filmed it, we discussed how we want to edit the majority of the video so it should be okay with hardly any arguments. As we have used iMovie before, it was easy to get back into the editing and everyone is comfortable using it. On Thursday and Friday, we just continued to edit everything together. One thing we struggled to do was to edit all the clips together and make them shorter; in a music video, it is ideal to have shots of no longer than 4 seconds so the video is nicely paced. Our shots are quite long so we have had o edit what we have got up to with a lot of  jumpcuts, which suit the codes and conventions. However, wit this means we are struggling to get the lip syncing spot on with the actor.

Editing

After reviewing our new footage, we have came to the conclusion that we don't have to re film any parts with my mum. This is great news as it'll allow us to get straight into editing, this will also allow more time to start our digipaks, which will take me longer to become accustom to as my experience with photoshop is extremely limited

Film Day (29/12/17)

Today we filmed the new narrative at our house with our mum. We didn't know how it would end up as our mum was made to act, as she has never acted before, we were nervous as she's an amateur, who's never acted before. We thought she would over act or not act at all, both outcomes would have been a flaw as it would have looked scripted and possibly not authentic. In general everything went well, we could use the tripod and camera properly and without confusion, my mum acted normal and looked as if it was real. the lighting was possibly an issue as like the performance aspect, it's somewhat grainy, as this occurs due to low-key lighting. We decided that it would make the most sense if we filmed it all in the one evening instead of carrying the filming over 2 nights, this was because once we got into the flow of things, we just wanted to get it all done and completed. Also the availability of group members and my mum was also not 100% for the following evening so we gave ourselves enough time to capture everything in the one evening. At the point in filming, my little brother was home and was playing xbox with his friends. Luckily, he didn't interfere without recording as, even though you cannot hear the diegetic sound in the music video, he would have gotten in the way and made the filming harder. i believe we could have improved the preparation of the mise en scene. The upstairs rooms were cramped and extremely hard to get a variety of camera angles as the room was particularly small. Instead of finding different angles, i came up with the suggestion that we use the cramped area as if it's blocking the camera, in a few shots i have on purposely excludes some parts of the acting for bag straps for example and it's different and unique.
In my opinion, this more linear narrative was the reason our filming went so well. It was easier to film, prepare and rely on actors. The simplistic idea worked well and we were able to pull it off. we also checked all the clips we recorded on site and made a judgement between the 3 of us if we were to re do a shot. This will make it easier to edit and means the chance of refilming on a different day are kept to a minimal as we are running out of time, and fast.