Construction Post 5: Digipak Post Production

To create our Digipak album cover we used Adobe Photoshop. Below is the template we used for the front and back outside panels. A similar template was used for the inside panels too.

Outside panels template

Outside Panels
Below is a picture of what our final outside panels looked liked.

Outside Panels

The back cover doesn't match our original flat plan as the layered effect we were trying to create didn't work that well. 

Our Flat Plan

As a group we decided to change our idea to something more simplistic yet striking. We spoke to our target audience about the layered photo and our substitute photo and they preferred the substitute photo we chose and said that it worked well with the front cover and looked more slick and sophisticated. 

Before: Our layering attempt

After: The substitute idea we used

I added the album title, artist logo and the song names as well as adding some effects to the main photo of AJ on the front cover.

Me editing the front cover of the album

To create the album and song titles and also the artist's name we had to download two new fonts called World Conflict and Questrial-Regular. We chose World Conflict for the artist's name because we really liked the edgy, street feel the font had and the fact that it looked like spray paint, adding to the street art, gritty vibe we wanted for the album cover.

World Conflict font preview

We chose a simple font like Questrial for the album title and song names because we wanted it to look classy yet sharp but not distract too much from the photo of AJ on the front because it is a debut album and we wanted to focus on introducing AJ as an artist.  To really make the words stand out I used Blending Tools to add shadows to the letters, helping them stand out more and giving them more shape and dimension instead of looking flat.

Questrial font preview

We chose grey, grungy backgrounds for both the front and the back because we were going for something simple yet effective. We felt that this really followed genre conventions of having a plain, one-toned background, similar to existing covers such as Jason Derulo, Mary J Blige and our inspiration for this panel Amy Winehouse.

The background we were inspired by

One the back cover we had to ensure that we had all the institutional information like the artist website, record label logo and a barcode as well as all the relevant copyright material so that we were following album cover conventions.

Inside Panels

Below are our inside digipak panels

Inside Panels

Our inside panels consisted of a side profile photo of AJ's head filled with the words that describe what the album means to him as well as words that represent his personality as it is his debut album and we wanted this to show who AJ is as a music artist. This album is AJ's way of expressing his emotion, his memories and his problems. The aim of this was to give the album a more personal touch and make it meaningful which would hopefully make it more relatable to the audience.

The right hand panel where the CD would be only consists of a simple, graded photo of the back of AJ's head as we didn't want anything too distracting or bright as that wouldn't fit with the rest of the album. We also didn't want to put something meaningful like the collection of words as it would be covered by the CD. 

We went with this image as we felt it worked really nicely with the other three panels. The photo ended up black and white which gives it an almost vintage, old school feel about it. This is effective for our album cover as the genre is contemporary R&B but we wanted AJ to be able to bring back the old school, traditional style of R&B music in this album. 

Audience Feedback

After speaking to members of our secondary audience (people aged 12-25) I have collected to following feedback about our final digipak cover.

• The colour scheme and dark, grungy theme works really well and they like how is consistent across all four panels
• The logo is a really cool font and looks very artsy and edgy at the same time
• The photograph on the front cover is really effective and the lighting works really well
• The institutional information adds a more professional, realistic touch
• Some people did not easily recognise it as an R&B album cover

Overall I am really pleased with the outcome of our final digipak. I have really enjoyed editing the photos and putting it all together and I love the style and theme of the final product. My personal favourite panel is the inside left as I love the concept of the words inside his head and the words themselves as I feel it adds a personal touch to the album and for me that links to what music is all about - expressing yourself. 

Construction Post 4: Music Video Post Production

Editing our music video

To edit our music video we used a software called Adobe Premiere Pro. We started the process by renaming all of our shots and placing the lip-syncs on the tracks. We then made sure to sync all of the lip-syncs at the start to make the editing process more efficient and to save time later on. 

We decided to share the responsibility of editing the video, making the website and making the digipak equally between as so that we could all contribute to each ancillary product. My main contribution in editing was renaming the shots, matching some of the lip-syncs and putting the shots on to the timeline, in particular the solo dance, some of Laith's lip-sync and the narrative montage of Sian and Adam.

One of our revisions we decided to make from the test edit was to make sure our shots didn't cut from mid shot to mid shot and instead we needed more extreme changes in framing to follow music video conventions. Below shows one of our changes from a long shot to a MCU to a mid long. 

We had a clear vision as a group about how we wanted to style and grade our video, keeping it quite simple, desaturated with a lot of blue and grey tones. To ensure this was consistent throughout we had to grade the narrative shots so that they were black and white because they stood out a lot in colour compared to all of our dance and lip-sync footage.

Comparison of the narrative shots in colour and in black and white

We also added fades in between shots to make the transitions smoother and also to match the pace of the song. I really like the addition of the fades that we didn't have in the rough cut as it added to the style of the video. We were inspired by Ne-Yo's video for 'Closer' 

We also had a camera quick pan which acted as a transition between two shots which I was responsible for editing. As a group we are really pleased with this shot as it looks very clean and effective. To do this we had to ensure the timing of each shot was correct so that the pan from the first blends into the pan from the second. One thing that helped the edit of this to be effective was the fact that when Sian filmed each shot her hand moved at the same speed each time. This consistency meant that the two shots merged well together.

After getting some feedback from our teacher who felt that the cuts were slightly boring and not edgy enough, we decided to add some quick cuts in certain sections like the narrative argument and also the talking at shots. I felt that this was really effective as it not only shows the development in the argument but also helps to represent the anger and emotion in the lip-sync.

When it came to editing our dance break we came across a few issues. Reviewing our rough cut we found we definitely needed more cuts to different angles as it felt quite stiff and boring. In addition to this we decided to add extra shots of Sian and myself doing the group dance so that we could cut from the boys to the girls in a similar way to Ne-Yo's 'Miss Independent' video.

To add to this further, we also created an effect called ghosting to the dance break. Sian was the one who added this and she did it by layering the footage on two tracks, one clip starting a few frames later. This made the dance break look really edgy and less static and we were really pleased with the final outcome of it.

Audience Feedback

Once our music video had been completed we asked members of our primary target audience (R&B fans) and our secondary target audience (people aged 12-25 years old) for their feedback.

The overall response was very positive and the shots that were the most liked were our back lit silhouette dance shots. In addition to this the shadow shots with Sian and Adam whilst Laith was lip-syncing were also liked as well as the black and white narrative shots. Many people felt that the black and white grading was effective as it matches the performance shots well and fits the overall style. The narrative was clearly developed and our audience could follow the story well, and felt that the narrative helped to link the visuals to the lyrics giving the song more meaning.

In addition to the music video, I also edited a behind the scenes video that we can use on our website.

Below is our final music video.

Overall I really enjoyed the editing process of our music video as it was really fun to look back at all our footage and be able to create something that looked really professional and effective. I managed to develop my editing skills further as well as get the opportunity to be creative with some of our cuts and transitions. We worked well as a group and managed to produce a music video that we are all really pleased with.

Construction Post 3: Week 3 Production

Our third and final week of production consisted of carrying out our promotional photo shoot. This was done in school with a white backdrop and lighting system set up

Our set up for the promo photo shoot

During this we had 4 photo shoot sessions, one practice shoot and three main ones.We planned these shoots in the practice by making a list of all the poses we definitely needed and also a range of potential costumes. In the end, Laith had 5 different costumes which meant we would have a range of different photos. Below are some of our photos.

 

I was responsible for directing Laith during the shoot as well as taking some of the photos. I also changed the lighting for different shots. I really enjoyed the photo shoot as I loved using all the new equipment, in particular the lighting kit.

Me adjusting the lights

Me taking some of the photos

Below are some of my favourite promo shots and their inspiration.

Promo shot inspiration

Overall I really enjoyed our promo photo shoot as it was a new experience and really fun to do. I feel that we have a range of photos that can be used effectively on our website, social media pages and digipak album cover. 

Construction Post 2: Week 2 Production

Our second week of production consisted of our main shoot week. This took place in school in the studio and also on location for one day.

We had a schedule for our group to show who would be in the studio during the week at each time. This helped us to create a call sheet, shoot-board and shoot schedule so that we all knew what was happening each day and who would be required in terms of our extra actors. It also meant we had a goal for each day to make sure all the footage would be filmed.

Below is a copy of our group schedule.

Monday

Monday's Shoot Schedule

On Monday we had planned to film some of our lip-syncs, my dancing shots, Sian's dancing shots and also some of the boys group dance shots. However we spent most of the morning trying to set up an infinite white background so you can't see the join between the floor and the cyclorama. However we tried A4 and A3 sized paper and neither worked effectively. It was clear that it was paper being used and as a group we decided that it was best we didn't have it. Below are some photos of the cyclorama and the paper we tried to set up.

After this setback we had gotten to lunch time and we decided to spend it rehearsing with the boys for their dance shots. This was productive as it meant that during the after-school session we knew exactly which moves we were filming and all the boys had been reminded of the choreography and so no time was wasted. We were able to film the dance scenes from a variety of different angles with different framing so that when editing we could cut between them in order to make it more interesting. Sian and I took turns filming and directing this section.

Me filming one of the group dance shots

Tuesday
On Tuesday we planned to film our lip-syncs and also get the shadow shots and talking at shots done, all of which required different lighting and the talking at shots required a different lens.

Below are some screenshots of each of the set-ups

Tuesday's Set Ups

We started with the flicker lipsyncs as that required all three of us to be there. For these shots, Laith was acting, Sian was using the reflector and I was filming and directing Laith's performance.

Laith performing, Sian using the reflector and myself filming the flicker shots

Next we filmed the shadow shots which required Adam, one of our extra actors. This took a while to set up as the floor lights had to be in the correct place in order for the shadows to appear the right size and colour. As Laith, Sian and Adam were all on camera, I was responsible for filming and directing the shots. One thing I had to make sure to keep an eye on was that Adam himself stayed out of frame and that only his shadow was seen. Once we were all set up, the lip-syncs themselves ran smoothly and we got many good takes. 

This was one of my favourite shots to film as we found that it worked really well and looked really good on camera.

We spent the afternoon filming our handheld shots. Whilst I was there I helped Sian to film by cable bashing behind her to ensure she didn't trip over the wires whilst she was walking around.

After school we focused on the Laith talking at Sian sequence. We made sure to film it on both sides so that we could cut between them during editing. I was responsible for filming and directing again for these shots. I had to make sure that Laith stayed in frame and that they both varied there movements so we could get a range of shots. We had been inspired by Skylar Grey's song 'Back From the Dead'.

Sian and Laith Performing

Inspired by 'Back From the Dead' by Skylar Grey

In order to make up for the missed time on Monday we also did some more flicker lighting lip-syncs in a range of framing.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we were faced with another problem. When setting up the equipment in the morning we found that the camera we had been using wasn't working and so we were unable to film with it. However we were fortunate enough to be able to get it to a repair shop and have it fixed by the start of the next day.

Me helping Laith with his dance performance

We were given a replacement camera (the Canon Legria HFG30 Camera) to continue our filming however as the two cameras are so different in quality and design, our lighting didn't appear the same on the replacement camera and decided to adapt and use our time differently instead of filming as we didn't want some of our footage to look incredibly different to the rest we had so far.

As we were unable to continue filming, we used our time productively and planned out the next three days in detail so that we could still finish on time and to make sure we still managed to get all of our shots. We also rehearse and choreograph Laith's solo dance shots as we needed to make sure we had a set of moves he could perform and so we could film them straight away without wasting time the next day.

Thursday
By Thursday, the camera had been fixed and we could resume filming. We focused on dancing as we hadn't had a chance to film it so far. We managed to get Sian and my own solo dancing filmed and aslo some of our duet dancing filmed. This said optional in our schedule as we thought we might have got those shots by Thursday however we had to use it to film as we missed out on Monday and Wednesday.

Filming my dance shots

We also filmed the majority of Laith's solo dancing after practicing for most of Wednesday. We did this using both the silhouette lighting and also the spotlight. We did multiple takes of each move so that we had a selection to choose from. I filmed and directed Laith's dancing and made sure to be encouraging and supportive as Laith had learnt to dance for this shoot and I didn't want him to feel uncomfortable.

Laith's solo dance set ups

After school we filmed some more flicker lighting lip-syncs, however the camera's ISO setting must have changed as the footage appeared very bright on camera. We also filmed the reverse of the talking at shots and this time had Sian talking at Laith. In the same way as before, I was responsible for filming and directing these shots as I wasn't acting in them.

Sian and Laith performing the reverse talking at shots

In addition to this we filmed the shot of Laith walking into frame from out of focus to in focus. To do this, along with the talking at shots, we had to use a different camera lens. This lens had a much shorter depth of field and so we could really experiment with the focus in our shots. This worked really well for when Laith was walking forward. In terms of the talking at shots it meant we could focus on the person on the outside who was talking.

Friday
On Friday we continued filming Laith's dance shots in the morning as well as adding some more flicker lip-sync shots as we felt we needed to re-do them after watching the footage back from Thursday as Laith appeared really bright in the footage and it didn't match our other takes.

Sian and Laith also filmed their dance shots together on this day, using the same silhouette lighting as the group dance.

Sian and Laith's back lit dance

Sian and I doing the guys dance

At lunch we had another session with our dancers and so we continued filming their sequence from a range of angles. Sian and I also filmed our version of the boys dance so we could cut between it in the dance break

In the afternoon, as Sian and I had filmed all of the dance shots, we decided to use the time to look through all of the footage we had filmed and make a note of anything we didn't like or wanted to change as we still had an after-school session and Saturday morning. Below is our list of changes.

Saturday

On Saturday we continued to re-film the shots we need to improve in the morning, including Laith's solo dance scenes and some of the hand held lip-syncs and also flicker lighting lip-syncs.

As we didn't need to redo any of the screen shadow shots we used the time to continue filming a range of hand held lipsyncs. 

The final studio session was with the boys in the afternoon to film the remaining dance shots. This consisted of their choreography for the dance break and also the smaller moves in between, such as this leaning back shot which can be seen below.

Sunday

Our priority on Sunday was to film all of our narrative shots as we had filmed the lip-sync the weekend before. Below is a sample from our Narrative shoot-board.

We decided that we would film all of the shots which required Adam, our extra actor first. These shots consisted of a serious of different shots both in my neighbour's house and in the park. Laith and I took turns directing and filming these shots as he hadn't had a chance to film anything throughout the week.

Whilst in the park we also took the opportunity to take some of our location promo shots using my digital camera (a Canon EOS 100D).

Once we returned back to my house we filmed all of the outdoor shots first. This consisted of the narrative shots of both Sian and Laith by the wall outside. I was responsible for filming and directing this. In addition to this shot, I took some more promo shots of Laith outside in the alley way as can be seen below.

Our final part of filming took place inside, where we filmed the rest of the narrative shots between Laith and Sian. This consisted of the argument sequence, the sofa shots, the phone shot and the mirror shot. As Laith and Sian were acting in both, I was filming and directing these most of these shots but Sian also filmed the ones she wasn't acting in.

Some of the shots I filmed

Overall I feel that our studio shoot, despite being quite eventful, was really enjoyable. By the end of the shoot I can definitely say I was very comfortable and confident using the lighting desk and changing the position and colour of the lights. In addition to this I have gained confidence filming hand-held shots as I had never done so before. I would say that the week was successful and we managed to film all of our shots even with the issues we faced. All three of us worked really well together and had a fun and memorable experience.

Behind the Scenes Group Photo

Construction Post 1: Week 1 Production

During the first week of production our group focused on preparing and carrying out our first location shoot. This consisted of two days, one night time shoot for lip-syncs and filler shots and a day shoot for lip-syncs, promo shots and a practice of our narrative shoot in preparation for the next week.

Below is the first page of our Saturday night shoot-board. The main focus of this shoot was to film some of our location lip-sync shots.

First page of our Saturday location shoot-board

On this day I was responsible for directing the shots and making sure that Laith knew what actions to do and what shots we were filming. I used the clapperboard and was responsible for making sure we didn't miss out any shots.

Me directing Laith between takes

We filmed on two locations. The first was a cut-through with a row of lamp posts. As some of our shots were hand-held, I was responsible for making sure Sian knew when people were about to walk behind her (as she was filming) so that we didn't get in the way. In addition to this, we did many takes so that we had a lot of options when editing in case the light of the passing cars was clearly visible on Laith in any of the shots.

Lamp post location

The second location was the road on which Sian lives. The road was particularly difficult to film in as there wasn't a lot of light and cars were driving up and down. We had to be very careful and aware when filming in order to stay safe and to stay out of the way of the public.

Street location

In addition to this, we managed to get some creative filler shots using the lighting from the street lights. An example of this can be seen below.

Back lighting from the lamp post

Our second location shoot took place on the Sunday. This was used to film the rest of the location lip-sync shots which took place around my house. Below is a sample page of the shootboard from Sunday.

First page of Sunday's shoot board

We started with the outdoor shots, some of which I filmed and the rest I directed. As a group we worked really well to encourage and motivate each other as it was very cold when we were filming and we tried our best to keep the group spirits up. The rest of the lip-sync shots took place indoors, on the stairs and also in the attic.

Me filming the outdoor lip-sync

Once we filmed all of the shots from our shoot-board we decided to practice some of the narrative shots for next weekend so that we would be productive and efficient the next week. We practiced the exact framing of the living room shots as well as the positions and actions that Laith and Sian would need to do. Additionally, we scripted the argument that would be filmed the following weekend so that both Laith and Sian could learn their lines for the shoot.

Script for the argument scene

Overall I feel that we had a successful first shoot and that we worked extremely well together to get it done. Next week will be the main studio shoot and the narrative shoot and I hope that it runs as smoothly as this weekend and also that it will be just as enjoyable.

R+P Post 33: Reflections on my role and contribution during Research and Planning

I feel that all three of us contributed well to the research and planning of our project and we each played to our strengths.  Below I have summarised my personal contribution.

Storyboarding

As I enjoy art, we felt that I’d be good at drawing out the shots for our storyboard. In order to be as organised as possible I made sure to write down in a checklist all of our key shots before drawing them to ensure that I didn’t forget any. I also made sure to organise our narrative shots in order so that we could see if it made sense.

Drawing our storyboard shots

Drawing the promo shots and flat plans for the website and digipak cover

In addition to storyboarding, I also drew and annotated our promo shots and flat plans so that we had a clear visual reference for when it comes to making them.

Drawing the digipak flat plan

Drawing the website flat plan

Filming and directing sections of the shoot

As I am performing the least in our video, most of the directing and some of the filming will be my responsibility. During our test shoot I filmed some of Laith’s lip-sync scenes such as the flicker lighting and also the scenes with both Sian and Laith. I also acted as a performance director when Sian was filming the hand held scenes in order to help Laith act and convey emotion.

Filming one of Laith's lip syncs

Performing in the video

My performance in the video was dancing. Myself and Sian had a blue lighting set-up which made us appear as silhouettes. As we both have a dance background these roles were very well suited to us and it meant we could perform to a high standard.

Filming one of my dance sections

Helping to teach choreography and organising rehearsals

Alongside Sian, I helped to teach the group of boys the choreography that we decided on as well as organising the rehearsals and ensuring the boys knew when and where they were being held.