Editing

Editing has been a slightly different process throughout my music video production compared to my film opening production. As there are a much greater number of shots, I have edited them in a way where the clips are ascending upwards, overlapping the clip before as only the top clip is shown. In my last project, I was able to line the footage along one line, however in a music video, the pace of editing has to be much faster. 

By using the audio wave forms on the original track, it has made it much easier to edit to the beat of the music, making it look much more like a music video as making it easier and more pleasing to watch. 

A new skill I had to learn whilst editing is how to edit the lip syncing to perfectly match the original track. I completed practise exercises to learn how to link the video to the original wave forms so that the lip syncing was in time; these exercises were the Britney Spears re-make as well as editing a small sequence for 'You wanna what', a country song. Additionally, an issue I have had throughout this editing process is loosing time rendering, as the lip syncing clips were much longer than usual, and so they took a long time to render. To reduce this time as much as possible, when filming, we filmed each verse separately to make the clips shorter than one clip lasting the whole song. 

feedback on music video

In class, we did a peer feedback session where the other class watched our unfinished music videos to suggest what could be adapted or changed to make it more successful, as well as offer feedback on audience and brand image.

Describe the brand image:

 

What conventions of the form/genre can you see clearly?

 

 

 

 

What is your favourite shot in the music video?

• chorus-all characters are singing
• bright backgrounds
• birds eye view of the girls walking and the pictures
• snapshots of the girls having fun

 

Who do you think the target audience is?

 

 

what do you think could be added/adapted in order to improve overall impact of the music video?

• different setting for artist/crop shots so artist is alone in the shots
• change mise en scene of artist-its less thoughtful considering he is the one you need to brand
• faster pace of edit to carry fun vibe

After gaining this feedback, we have decided to re-film the lip syncing shots as they did not fit in with the fun, colourful mise en scene of the rest of the video. Initially, after filming him in a room with a white background as we were limited with time, these shots were not atmospheric or presented any image of the artist which is what the video is supposed to be about. We will re-film the lip syncing in the same setting as the girls-we will film against graffiti backgrounds in Camden to create a running image and atmosphere throughout the video.
This feedback was very helpful in validating our filming and how we approached our audience as the feedback from the brand image and the target audience is accurate to what we intended to achieve. Additionally, it has helped me in deciding to change the video to make it look better, and more exciting and to properly sell and brand my artist.



Album covers

I have decided to do some further research into album covers to get an accurate idea about what they usually have on the front. Despite my research of Lower Than Atlantis' album cover, i have found that almost all rock/indie bands never have the band members themselves on the cover. this is probably due to the fact that generally in the rock genre, their popularity and brand are not focused on their image, but more on the music itself. 

All of the covers, despite not having a relation to the artists in terms of appearance, the photos always have strong links to the album title or the title of a song on the album.

The Killers, a very popular band, never feature themselves on the front cover of their albums, this is because they have a very distinctive theme of artwork that is on all of their covers and so their appearance is irrelevant to selling their music as they have already established an image. this suggests that they have no need for them to appear on their covers.

 Additionally, You Me At Six, a popular British rock band have also never featured on the cover of any of their albums. They are probably most similar to my artist as they are of the same nationality, music genre and fan base and so their marketing techniques would be similar. I can also take inspiration from this album as i like the layout of the song titles on the back being in the middle and also the continuation of the image from the front to back. 

I have also found that the disks belonging to the albums tend to be quite plain. The typical design of them is that they are a plain colour, usually monochrome and they feature the name of the album and often the band. This simplicity is typical of the genre as album artwork tends not to be very extravagant but they also continue the themes and colour schemes of the rest of the album artwork. 

Digipak analysis

Lower than Atlantis-Digipak analysis

I have chosen to look into Lower than Atlantis' digipak as the band belong to the same genre as my chosen song.

Each side of the digipak has different elements on it:

Front-Image of the band and logo/their name

Inside left-Name of band members and credits for album and lyric booklet 

Inside right- disk

Back- song names

The main colour used on the entire digipak is pink which is an unusual colour to choose for a band in the rock genre as it is usually associated with girly and young imagery. however through the use of this colour, it says a lot about their image; they are different, bold and brave/adventurous. 

The strong use of pink complements they way in which the faces of the band members have been edited. they have quite bluish tones to their skin which is complemented my the pink, also it presents a contrast between cold and cute because as well as the blue tones to their skin, the band show no emotion or expression on their faces which adds to the cold feel, but this is balanced by the pink which typically symbolises calm and creativity. 

The album is self titled and so the only text on the cover is the name of the band. This helps them stand out and the typography used acts as their logo as it is used everywhere (the disk, the cover and on their drum kit during concerts) and so it is instantly recognisable. In addition, the fonts used for the title make the cover eye catching as two different fonts are used. This is effective as it provides more for the eye to look at as the cover is very simple, also, it sells the band really well as the final word of their name is emphasised and so people are more likely to remember their name.

In terms of the band members, the cover uses direct more of address which gives the feeling that they are connecting with the viewer. This makes the cover more personal and appealing to a consumer as they feel that it is directed at them.

The clothing of the band is very simple; plain black clothing make them really stand out against the light pink background, however the attire is still very simple so not to draw too much attention to their appearance. This reflects the genre as British rock bands are not focused on selling their appearance and image, its more about the brand they have established through their music.

Using Photoshop

As I will be using Photoshop to create my digipak, I practised using all of the essential tools on the programme found on the tool bar. 

I was already familiar with the concept of layers and so I knew to put a new image or shape onto a new layer to avoid confusion and also to enable me to edit the piece of work more efficiently.

I am able to use the magic select tool as well as the polygon lasso to cut out images/select a specific area to use in an image. 

Also, I have practised using the text tool to create different styles of text on Photoshop as this will also be crucial in the production of the digipak.

In making this piece of work, I also experimented with using the shape tools to create the rectangles, as well as using the opacity bar to alter the opacity of the shapes.

Furthermore, I am able to use the colour swatch tools as well as the eraser tools to alter the style and effect of my work. 

Most importantly, I practised transforming images and shapes to change their size and rotation. This tool is perhaps the most important as it is used for every image and object that is placed onto the layers.

Digipak mood board

By researching bands within the rock and indie genre and their album covers, I have identified typical iconography that is specific to the genre. 
Firstly, almost all bands in contemporary rock music have a logo. For example, Metallica and Fall Out Boy and this greatly helps the artists to become more easily recognisable to consumers as they have a simple symbol that represents the band. As a result, I have decided to create my own logo for The Crookes as an extra marketing tool to develop the brand of the band. 
Also, I have realised that albums tend to have limited colour palettes, therefore they are simple and aesthetically pleasing, potentially making them more successful in terms of selling the artist. 
Additionally, font is a very important aspect of creating a brand for the artists as often fonts end up being associated with a musical for example the 1920's/art deco font used by Paloma Faith. 

By creating this moodboard of images that are related to my genre, I have gained a better understanding of what is included in a digipak, as well as how to create a distinctive image for a band.