I attempted to film for my music video on sunday, however when i went to film it started to rain which would have been a massive continuity error and therefore i was unable to do it. This taught me not to leave any filming to the last minute as it may be affected by things that are beyond my control.

However i did manage to take more photo's to use for my digipak, they are not the exact photo's that i wanted as someone had parked a car on the street i was taking my photo on and therefore i could only use the other side of the street.

I am planning on filming again this sunday, the footage i am planning on getting is the film of my actor walking down the street lip syncing. However i am going to have to film this several times to look effective and to ensure i have smooth camera movements. I am also going to take more photo's using a digital camera to get high quality pictures i can use on my digipak.

I have started to put together the footage of my actor walking to the music, however i will not be able to do a large amount of editing until i have the majority of the footage and can better understand how it's going to fit together to the lyrics, this is because i am using lip syncing later on and this must be fitted exactly to the music in order for it to look effective.

These are the photos i took however, i was forced to take them using the video camera as my camera had run out of battery. Because of this the quality of the pictures is terrible and therefore i need to retake these pictures.

I filmed the footage that is supposed to be from the eagles eye view, and looks more effective than i expected it to. I also took photo's using my actor which i plan to use on the digipak, however i have not yet managed to get these photo's off of my memory card and onto my mac, i will be doing this as soon as possible.

I plan to start filming this weekend on the 4th, i wish to at least film the footage from "the eagles view" i am filming this by itself as it will take a large amount of organizing and time to film due to the distance between the camera and the actor meaning communication will have to be done via phone and will presumably take several attempts to get right. I am also going to take pictures which i plan to use on the cover of my digipak, however i am not sure whether i will be able to get the framing right on the pictures to enable them to look effective. So i may have to go back and take pictures at another time of day when the light is different.

updated shot list

Shot 1 - Camera moves backward with actor walking along keeping equidistant to it, carries on

till shortly before the first lyrics.

Shot 2 - Close up of the actors lips, lip syncing.

shot 3 - Camera zooms out from the persons face slightly, till it fills the screen.

shot 4 - Footage of actor walking and looking up at camera up high.

shot 5 - Long shot of actor in the cornfield, this is the part of the song where i use jumpcuts.

shot 6 - Zoom in on actors face whilst he lip syncs.

shot 7 - Close up of actors eyes, with a small bit of the background either side.

shot 8 - Camera zooms away from the actors face before they look up.

shot 9 - re use jump cuts.

shot 10 - The actor slowly walks backwards away from the camera whilst lip syncing before

turning around and walking off.

I have started to create my CD digipak, i've started to put information about who created the Music and information about the band. I am  using photoshop toThe writing on the back cover saying official information i have written in times new roman, i have done this because  this is supposed to be official writing and disconnected from the more happy cover of the album. The writing on the front cover is a looser font which resembles the fonts used on Biffy Clyro's album "infinity land" where the song i am using originally came from though i may change this font at a later date.

After doing more work on my digipak this is how it looks, The main change is the there is now a track listing on the back cover of the digipak. I have chosen these songs from other  albums by the artist and are in my opinion are some of the best songs they have produced. I have also added a review at the bottom of the front cover from NME one of the largest music magazines and reviewers of albums. A minor change that i have made is to the font sizing of the name of the artist, and the albums title and along with this i have also made slight changes to the placement of information on the back of the digipak so that it fits in better.

I have started to edit the spine of the Digipak to include the information that is  usually found on this part of a retail digipak, I am going to start to edit the picture for the front cover and see if i can make it look effective.

This is my first attempt at photoshopping the background of the image, i like this as a picture as i am filming in a street however i cannot clearly see the writing and will have to move it around because of this. I also feel that i would need a different image for the back cover which is much lighter so the writing will stand out.

After moving the writing around and changing the colour to make it more readable this is how it looks, however i now feel that  this does now look as good as it could and needs more work.

I have now changed the colour of the font on the title, making it easier to read. I have also started trying out designs which i could possibly use on the spine, at the moment it is a section of the front cover image blurred however i am going to change this as it looks repetitive and not effective.

I have now changed the image on the spine to one of my own images, I changed the font to black, and then to make it stand out i edited the brightness and the contrast of the background image to make it lighter.

This is my first version of the album cover using my own imagery, i am changing the effects on the image to make it look more effective, however it is still going to take more work.

I have started to work on the back cover of my digipak, working with the lyrics "To discuss like eagles",  I am also going to try to insert a picture of mountain in the bottom left corner of my picture as one of the songs on the album is called "mountains".

I have done more work on the back cover using Another photo of an eagle  and a blue background. My original attempt at this meant that i had to rearrange the background and blur it, however i did this again using a smaller piece of back ground covering the whole thing before cutting out the bird and putting it on so i had to do a minimal amount of editing to make it look more effective.

I have used a different picture of a bird of pray which has better definition and fits better with the space provided, this makes the back of my c.d. digipak look more professional.

I have changed the colour of the front cover to black and white, whilst keeping my actor colored to make him stand out.

I have started to make the inside cover of my digipak, however i am not happy with how this is progressing and am going to start to look for another idea to work with on how to look effective.

I have now added the spine to the inside cover of my cd digipak.

This image looks much more effective in black and white, i have also used smaller amounts of text as well as changing the background to another larger black and white image.

This is what the inside of my digipak so far looks like, the image on the other right hand side is the same image that has been used on the background on the left. I need to do more work on the spine of the picture as i do not feel that it fits in with the other two image any more.

I have edited the image on the back so that the actor is in colour, i have done this so that it links better with the front cover image. This took a long time to do and became increasingly complicated as i had to create a new layer for the figure in each picture so that i would be able to edit the colour seperatley from the background, meaning i had over 20 layers on this picture.

These are my final inside and outside covers for my digipak, I am happy with how they have turned out  in the end, and happy with this design and colour scheme, I also like the theme of having eagles running through it, as it links strongly with the lyrics of my song.

I have done further work onto my digipak, i have done this after being advised to use my own pictures of birds of pray on the back as we are not allowed to use images that have been found on the internet, as they are not our own.

I created this barcode using the website using the website http://www.barcodesinc.com/generator/index.php

This barcode is going to be placed on the back of my CD digipak. So that it looks more official and more like a real digipak. 

Movember

I planned to start filming the scenes of my music video which take place in the town center, however I realized when i went to organize this that my actor is taking part in "movember" where people grow facial hair in an effort to raise money for charity. This will be ending soon and if i had carried on with filming My actor would have had a mustache for half of my film, whilst in the other half he did not, therefore i decided to postpone filming for the purposes of continuity.

This is my practice at editing a picture using photoshop, i chose to edit a photo of simon neil who is the singer of the band i am creating a music video for i also put an eagle into the background of the picture as it is one of the key lyrics of the song that i am doing.

We started off by copying the image that we wanted by selecting the rest of the picture with the lasso tool, and the magnetic lasso tool, we then clicked inverse to select the image we wanted. We chose feathered the image so that the image would not be as harsh. We copied it into another canvas and zoomed in and removed any traces of the background from the original that remained. We repeated the process with the image inserted in the background and put it into the canvas, selecting send to back.

This picture was my attempt to combine my image into a street like I plan to do for my final digipak cover. However this did not work as the edge of the figure is missing and looks bad like he has been placed into the image.

This is my next attempt at inserting figures into a high-street scene, still using photoshop, but this time I'm using a simpler figure which also shows it's entire body.

Changes in my idea for the film

For the part of my film which talks about eagles, i have decided to replace the original idea with a film of zooming into my actors face and of redkites, i am changing my idea to filimg my actor walking along the street, except i will be filming him from a tall building. This also means that i will have to change the street which my actor is walking along to one closer to a tall building.

For this tall building i plan on using the multi story carpark in kettering town center, this is ideal as it is 6 stories high and overlooks roads upon which it is easy to film.

I am filming from a tall building because i wish to get footage from the point of view of the eagle as in a "birds eye view", i am doing this to link in with the lyrics where it says "to discuss like eagles" as i felt that my original idea for this was too weak and by doing this will improve my video making it more unique and generally improving it.

Research into c.d. digipak

A digipak is a style of CD and DVD packaging. It's made from card or paper with a plastic insert used to hold the CD. The case is harder to break than that of a CD as it is not made out of plastic which is easy to crack however the "teeth" which hold the CD are still easy to break. Digipak usage is increasing as it is generally better for the environment. But also because it is seen as "trendy" and a new thing for bands to do and to be different from other bands. Digipaks are a registered trademark of
              You can buy Digipaks in several different forms such as 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 panel digipaks, though the most  common forms of digipaks are 4 panel digipaks which opens like a book. 6 panel digipaks are also very common as they give a larger area for the album artwork and text information about the band or other people who have helped to produce it.

    The front cover of a digipak is usually the main artwork for the album, this is to make the album recognizable to fans, this will take up the majority if not all of the front cover. The only other bits of information which the front cover will contain are both the albums name and also the name of the band who produced it. The artists name is usually in larger text than the the name of the album as it is likely that a casual consumer of music will not be able to name the album but will be looking for a c.d. by that band.

The spine of a digipak usually includes the artists name and the name of the album. In smaller writing at the bottom will usually be the name of the record company. This writing is usually over some artwork that is carried on from the front page.

 The back of the digipak will usually contain a track listing, on certain digipaks on the track listing there will also be after each track the length of the song. This information also takes place over the top of artwork which is

Wasting light is by foo fighters who are one of the worlds best known rock bands, it's the latest album that they have released and debuted at number 1 in the album charts selling 235000 copies in its first week. It was released in both jewel case and 4 panel digipak form. The album artwork is very distinctive and is easily recognizable straight away as wasting light, this is because the background of the album is plain black, in the middle of the cover are pictures of the bands faces, the faces are done as stencils with each band member being a different colour, areas of the bands members faces that overlap. This creates a very bright and vibrant image, which is a stark contrast from the black background. This album cover was both created to show the contrast between light and dark, but also too make the album stand out in any form of record store such as hmv which it may be displayed in and therefore attract potential customers.  The name of the band and the title of the album are above the artwork, they are in a much lighter colour and a thin text, this is done to not take the attention away from the main picture, which by itself means that the album will be recognized even without the title and bands name.

Portraits by max raptor is the debut album of the midlands punk band, Max Raptor have quickly made a name for themselves through there near constant touring, they have been the support band to acts such as The Stranglers ant The Darkness. They have also played at the large rock and metal download festival and have promoted themselves through these appearances with there energetic live shows.

        The album has presumably been released as a digipak because it is generally cheaper to release a CD as a digipak than it is to release it as a jewel case, and because it was the bands debut album they only had a limited amount of money with which to record and release it, therefore limiting costs by using the digipak. 

         The front of the digipak features a large portrait, the portrait looks like a painting which has been copied onto the cover as you can clearly see the brush strokes. The name of the album is a reflection of the albums title "portraits" which is so called as the album is about how they as a group see Britain and the current climate of the country, the album touches on subjects such as the economy and domestic abuse.. The name of the band and the album are in white letters but there is some smearing of the name, this is done so that it looks like it has been painted over the top of the portrait.

Problems with filming SOLVED

I have discussed my problems i was going to have with producing a smooth backwards movement with my teacher, he has told me that the school has a dolly which will enable me to produce the shots that i need for my footage to look effective and for me to produce a smooth movement. However i may have to try to attach the camera to a bike or something else with large wheels as this would eliminate all the bumps that were in the road.

Evaluating my blog.

This is the sheet from where i was assessed by one of my peers from my class, i had her do this as i knew that she would be more critical of my work than i would have been, as in general people are unwilling to criticize their own work. This means that i will be able to take my peers advice on my blog and be able to improve my blog accordingly.

Titling my posts.

I have been through my previous posts changing the names so that they are easily identifiable and content within my blog is easy to find.

Ancillary task-music magazines

In preparation for creating the front cover of a music magazine i am researching how they commonly look, i have chosen the magazine rock sound.

http://www.rocksound.tv/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Sound

I have chosen rock sound to bethe magazine i look at as it is a magazine which relates to the band i am looking at, they have been theband on the front cover of the magazine 3 times. There 2007 album puzzle was rock sounds album of the year and received nearly all positive reviews from the magazines which reviewed it.

The first album advertised in rock sound is for the band mastodon, because of this and the fact that the advert covers a full a4 page of the magazine it shows how popular the artist is, this is shown by the fact an advert of this nature would cost a huge amount of money. Spending this amount of money also shows that the artist is extremely keen to promote the album which they are advertising, because it is in the album rock sound it shows that they are trying to appeal to a specific audience. This also shows that they are a band who appeal to only these people as they have a specific style of music which in this case is heavy metal, a genre which does not appeal to those who are not a fan of it. At the bottom of the advert is more information about the c.d.  and the special edition, showing what extras the special edition includes, this is an effort to make more people buy the special edition which presumably costs more. Below this is information about both the band and the bands record label.

Another advert within the magazine is for the album "Green Naugahyde" by the album primus. The main colour on the advert is green, this relates to the title of the album in an effort to make it stick in the mind of people who are looking at the advert. The advert also says "First studio album in eleven years released September 12th on CD & Green Double Vinyl" This is trying to promote them as a band which used to have a large fan base but has taken a break from recording. It also features reviews from metal hammer saying "a spectacular return" as this is a positive review from one of theleading magazines of this genre and therefore is a review which the viewers of the advert will respect. At the bottom of the advert there is information about the albums publisher and record label, this is done by both of these companies in an effort to promote themselves further.

This advert uses the bands colours which makes the advert instantly recognizable as promoting this band. The advert fulfills a duel purpose of both advertising the bands new album but it also promotes the bands tour which is being held to play new tracks to the fans and therefore show them what the new album is like encouraging them to buy it. Again, this advert features a review by metal hammer which is a review that fans of this band will instantly appreciate and therefore listen too.

Shot list

Shot 1 - Camera moves backward with actor walking along keeping equidistant to it, carries on
till shortly before the first lyrics.
Shot 2 - Close up of the actors lips, lip syncing.
shot 3 - Camera zooms out from the persons face slightly, till it fills the screen.
shot 4 - Footage of redkites.
shot 5 - Long shot of actor in the cornfield, this is the part of the song where i use jumpcuts.
shot 6 - Zoom in on actors face whilst he lip syncs.
shot 7 - Close up of actors eyes, with a small bit of the background either side.
shot 8 - Camera zooms away from the actors face before they look up.
shot 9 - re use jump cuts.
shot 10 - The actor slowly walks backwards away from the camera whilst lip syncing before
turning around and walking off.

Examples of videos from Biffy Clyro

These are examples of music videos that Biffy Clyro have made, i've got these so that i can see what their official videos are like in preparation for making mine.

The Captain


God And Satan


Mountains


Many of Horror [when we collide]


Semi Mental


Just Boy

Lip sync

This is my practice for filming and editing a piece of lip syncing together and making it look effective.

Possible problems with filming.

I have one major problem which i may have with my filming, this is that at some points of my film i have the camera moving backwards along with the the person who is walking towards it. To make this movement smooth i am in need of finding some method to enable the camera to move smoothly along the floor. I will need to build some form of cart or something else which i can place the tripod on which may be a problem.

Mis en scene.

The most important piece of mis on scene that will be in this film and that is to consider what my actor will be wearing, i was planning on having him wearing a suit or at least smart clothes and a suit jacket in the film, i would be having him wearing this as he would look completely out of place in both of the areas in which i would be filming and therefore adding interest to the film.




Another important piece of mis en scene in my film is the litter at the place i am going to film, if i choose to film in the quarry instead of the woods there are large areas where litter is strewn about by people who have been camping in the area, it will be very important that i avoid these areas as my film will not look professional if there is a large amount of litter in the background.

Casting for my music video

For my casting i was planning on using my friend Tom Pearson as the only actor, the reason i was going to do this is that he already knows and likes the song, and helpfully he knows most of the lyrics which will enable the parts of the film where lyp syncing has to take places to happen much quicker and more fluidly as he will not have to learn or read the lyrics. I have not yet asked him whether he will help me which i need to do as soon as possible as if he can not help me i will need to find someone else who i can really on to help me with the acting.

Questionnaire about music.

Detailed questionnaire.

1. have you heard of the rock band biffy clyro?

14 people answered yes, 1 answered no.

This shows that if i create a music video for the song which i plan on making one for, many people will recognise the song and be able to relate to it.

2. Do you like the rock band biffy clyro?

9 people answered yes, 6 answered no.

This means that the majority of people will probably like the music video simply because they like the band, however some people do not like the band or they're music and therefore unless the music video is extremely good, many people who watch it won't like it because they will not like the song.

3. Have you seen any videos by biffy clyro before

10 people answered yes, 5 people answered no.

This means that how the majority of people who view my music video will feel influenced in how they view it by previous videos which they have watched from the band and will be likely to make comparisons to he existing official video]]
4. Do you prefer music videos where you see the bands perform?
8 people answered yes, 7 people answered no.

Unfortunately i will be unable to do anything about this as i am not going to be able to get the actual band to perform in my video.

5. Do you like a music idea when it has a specific story-line?
5 people answered yes, 10 people answered no.

This is good as my music video does not have a specific story-line.

6. Do you like a music video which evokes feelings?
11 people answered yes, 4 people answered no.

7. Do you commonly watch music channels such as scuzz or viva?
7 answered yes, 8 answered no.

8. Are you interested in the genre of rock?
9 answered yes, 6 answered no.

This means that the majority of people will be interested in my music video and the song because they like this genre if
music.

9. Would you like to see a narrative in the story?

Feedback included: Yes i would like to see a narrative in the story however i would prefer for the film to show and envoke
emotions more .

10. Would you like to see special effects being used in your video?
13 answered yes, 2 answered no.
feedback included: Whilst i would like to see special effects being used in the movie, i would prefer that they be used a
small amount and be used well than be used in an over the top manner which ruins the style and feeling of the film.

11. How would you expect the actors to be dressed in a music video by Biffy Clyro
Open ended question, feedback includes: I would expect them to be dressed casually and possibly be shirtless having seen
Biffy Clyros music videos before, or seen them live before



I will be getting my actor to wear a smart suit, i will be doing this for 2 reasons, the first is that it will look completely out of place in the background of the music video, and the second is that it will be unexpected to the viewer as it goes against the stereotype for the band.

Storyboards

The storyboards will be up soon, i am having problems with them as i am having to rescan them in.

Possible locations for Filming

My locations for this project was originally going to be the street on which my house is, which is better than many other streets as it is full of cars which gives it the impression of being busy despite actually having very little traffic.





The only other location i was planning on using was a cornfield however i am now going to have to use a woodland area instead as the corn has been mostly harvested


I was thinking of using several different areas of woodland for my footage, these are in the quarry area between kettering and Geddington, or Geddington woods. The advantage of using the quarry is that it is a lighter area than the woods so i would be able to get a better quality of footage, however there is a disadvantage in that i may not be able to find an area large enough for the jump cuts which i have planned, which i feel that the woods in geddington would be better for

geddington woods


geddington grange quarry