Final Album Cover

 Here is the image of the final album cover which we have chosen (final image). This has been chosen after we thought that it managed to conform to the conventions of other alternative rock album covers. This abstract, spherical shape is clearly quite unique at first sight however as you can see it has clearly had some sort of influence from albums such as The Resistance by Muse and The Enemy's album Music For The People. This influence can clearly be seen after looking at all 3 images one after the other. It is very artistic and diverse but I feel the same structure of the shape has been emulated. The range of colours does not directly link towards the video and neither does the actual shape itself link to any part of the video at all. However this is exactly the same scenario made within The Resistance, at no point in the video for Uprising (the biggest selling single from the album) is there any link towards the shape shown on the album cover. This makes the album appear separated from the video however since this the same scenario with The Resistance then it makes it clear that our album should take on a more artistic and stylized look whilst our video can be essentially something which is not directly linked. This album was made by using the software Photoshop and was made after creating a Lens Flare which was then had the contrast adjusted to a very high setting, then the hue was altered to make the colour more vibrant and add the specified colours we wanted. After that Sean added application known as 'Glowing Edges' just before adding a blur filter that creates the spherical effect. Adding a watercolour filter was then applied after all this in order to create the desired effect which all assisted with the effect created in the final album cover which can be seen in the final image of this post.

Posters

After scouring through multiple posters which link towards bands of different alternative rock music me, Sean and Katie made the conclusion of how the poster should be set out. First of all due to influence such as Stereophonics we decided that it would be best to use the same image used within our album cover. This image will be exactly the same as the album cover however it will differ in terms of positioning in order to adhere to the fact that it is a poster rather than an album cover. The differences between the album cover and the poster include a set date of when the album will be released, this is taken from influence such as Oasis with  What's The Story Morning Glory in which the name of the band and the date of the album release is the only text shown. In our poster (pictured in the second final and final image) for Tweeda we in-cooperated this idea. Specifically in the final image we would have this poster as the ideal poster the band would choose to have since it is more simple and is not explicitly covered in reviews or anything that would have had an external view of the band. In order to keep up to date with modern technology we looked at posters such as Keep Calm and Carry On by Stereophonics which features a website dedicated to the band at the bottom of the poster we also decided to use this in order to conform to the iconography of alternative rock music.

In the end we have created two posters, the one shown in the final image would be the one which conforms mostly to the iconography of alternative rock music since it fits with all the iconography just listed. However if this were a real band then it would be highly likely that when the poster is featured in a magazine then either the magazine itself or the record label would choose to feature reviews from multiple magazines which delegate themselves to the genre such as NME or Kerrang!. The difference the reviewed poster has in contrast with the poster the band would idealistically choose would be that it not only features reviews from magazines.

it also features links to websites where more information can be found about the band. Namely, Facebook and Twitter are social networking sites which specifically target teenagers (our target audience) and featuring this in the poster for the album may help impact the sales since customers can buy the product and then search for more information regarding the band such as news updates on concerts, new albums or singles, etc. Moreover, information such as the fact that it feature the "no 1 hit All The Small Things" would appeal to a wider audience (which would be the record label's main aim) since customers will recognize the single and thereby will recognize the band.

Retrospective - Comparing Decipher to All The Small Things

With both Katie and Sean off today I decided that this would be a good time to start a retrospective blog entry. So far, we have accumlinated a vareity of different knowledge from our research and attempted to implement them into our project as much as possible. We have essentially completed the video now and the print products are underway. In comparison to the preperation for Decipher (which I made at my AS level) I feel that my research and preperation is roughly similar, in the sense that I cannot clearly state that my research for Decipher was more thorough than the other, this is the same for the preperation aspect. Research is an aspect I feel I completed in a large amount of detail for each project. I knew immediately for Decipher which opening sequences of film I should have looked at and my analysis was as detailed as I could possibly make it. Similarly I did this with All The Small Things since I knew that I wanted to create a video based around alternative rock from the start and since I am a fan of the genre I could instantly decipher which videos would be best for me to look at which could provide influence for me within my project. I attempted to get a full understanding of the general charaterstics of the videos including specific shots, themes, narrative focus as well as general attitude and who the video is trying to appeal too. The research for Decipher indicated to me that I needed to implement the idea of crime and a very atmospheric feel in order to link in towards film noir. When researching All The Small Things I discovered that with videos such as Numb the idea of teenagers rebelling is a prominant theme, with other videos such as Uprising the idea of rebellion is even more prevalent, then after videos such as Damages the idea of drugs and alcohol and sex comes into more focus. I thereby knew that these should be themes that would have to be based on within our video.

However I think in terms of filming and the preperation made in order to film the video then the preperation for All The Small Things was much better than Decipher. When filming Decipher we understood the shots we wanted to make and understood the locations where we gonna film. Although the actual execution was improvised to some extent. For instance, the effect the light made when it was placed behind me in Decipher to mask my face was almost discovered entirely by luck when one of the members of the group turned the light over and it happened to display the effect that was eventually seen in the video. We wanted to create the effect from the start but only discovered how to do the effect on the day of filming. If it hadn't been for luck then the effect would not have been made as successfully as it appeared in the video (or at least would not have appeared as effective naturally without editing techniques). Luck was not directly needed when we filmed All The Small Things, we had a much clear understanding of what we were gonna film and how this was gonna be acheived for each shot. We did have some complications at the start with the narrative sequence since we could not decide on whereabouts in the location we should film. However in terms of how to acheive certain shots there was no issue whatsoever. I feel as though this clearly shows how we learnt our lesson from Decipher and that luck should not be something to rely on when filming. Other aspects that were improved on includes the preperation in terms of equipment and props. When filming Decipher disaster struck when filming a sequence in a tunnel, the batteryof the camera ran out before we finished filming all of our shots which meant that a large amount of artistic integrity was lost and the vareity we had when editing was very narrow which was diaspointing. The reason the battery ran out was notably not because we spent time filming, it was because the person who had posession of the camera the previous night forgot to charge it, this meant that we only filmed certain parts and needed to edit around the video in order to conjure up the narrative as best as possible. For All The Small Things, we were able to use Katie's new photography camera which has a much clearer picture quality and also in the end, there were absolutly no issues with regards to using too much memory or needing to charge the battery. This meant that we were far more prepared when filming the sequence and we could even spend time on some shots that weren't orignally planned but we still had time to do (as a kind-of test), some of which eventually appeared in the video such as when the characters are on drugs there is a close up of their face as the room spins around. This was not planned but was able to be acheived purely because we had such a vast amount of time left to do whatever we wanted. In prepreation I managed to create a storyboard which was not necessarily referred to whilst filming however it did clearly indicate to the rest of the group the 'look' and shots the video would have had to have. Even though there was a storyboard made last year I feel as though it was less developed in the sense that it did show how parts of the video would be set up but didn't directly show narrative focus on specific shots that needed to be done at certain points.

The print products are parts which were not made last year at all, even though the text credits and studio logo needed to be made they were far less developed and detailed as the actual products made for All The Small Things, for instance in the All The Small Things poster the concept of text positioning and how appropriate the 'look' of the product is much more detailed than the text in Decipher, in Decipher the text was simply made as black and white with a few editing effects to make it link to the video and research, whereas in All The Small Things we had to create  a picture as well as actually think about what font to use (this was considered in Decipher but no was no where near as strenous to discover). Overall I feel as though the majority of the prepation done for All The Small Things was far more organized and detailed than what was done for Decipher. The fact that there were no techinical issues when filming and that we could implement as many different shots as we'd like indicates that we were clearly more organized when filming and were satisfied each time we left from each day of filming. Although I do feel my research in comparison to Decipher is fairly level, I don't believe I have specifically done any more or any less than what I did last year which I don't feel is directly a negative since they both allowed me to discover exactly what conventions I needed to include and what needed to be included in order to make the video conform to the conventions of the genre of alternative rock.

Grading Tests

During the editing of the video we decided that the narrative parts of the video may appear more relective after changing the contrasts of the video. Appearing as reflective may be appropriate for our video because the live performance features a singer who also appears in the narrative. Having the singer appear in both the narrative and the live performance makes the narrative feel as though it might possibly be a memory that the singer is singing about. By making the contrasts of the video seem darker or possibly more vibrant then it can help emphasize the fact that the narrative is more of a memory than just a random narrative.

So far, the images above show the tests we have done on Katie's laptop. The first image depicts the narrative in a more black and white contrast. This would certainly indicate that the narrative is more of a memory which is the aim, however if I were to be picky then I would say that it may appear too dark, as in the fairly light hearted nature of the video would not link together with a more black and white image.

The second image is shows much more vibrant colours. The colours across the whole frame are exggerated to create a more dynamic elated effect. This may help foreshadow the drugs which will be taken later on in the video (at the point in the narrative the images are taken from, the characters are only just about to meet) however to be critical I would argue that the colours are possibly too vibrant which can make the narrative look unrealistic. In terms of when the characters actually take drugs then it perhaps may be useful to use but before the characters meet then I feel there is little point to it.

The third image I quite like, it is not fully black and white however it is dark enough to suggest that these parts of the video is a memory. The colours appear much more subtle and more in the background whilst the characters in the video seem much darker. This could help indicate an isolation aspect to the characters (a convention present in numerous alternative rock videos). In order to be critical then I would say that the characters are possibly too dark since the video was shot at roughly 1:00pm on a bright sunny day then it can seem to be an odd contrast with the characters being so dark. Also it may be hard to fully make out what the characters facial expressions are like which can differ the experience and understanding of the video greatly.

The fourth image has colours which blend much more noticeably, the colours are not vibrant and much more dark, representing the isolation of the characters at the beginning. However this image looks much more 'doom and gloom', not only is it dark but very grey imagery can create an atmosphere which we do not want to present. The final image appears to be more of a transition to the live performance using the effect 'luma key'. However this is not a transition and actually plays both the live performance segment and the narrative segment at the same time. This overall looks quite silly, the idea of showing the narrative and live performance at the exact same time is an interesting concept but using this effect I feel will decrease the experience from the audience. It will distract them from both the performance and the narrative since the audience will not know what to primarily focus on. Using this I feel would not be a very good idea. It has the potential to be more of a hindrance rather than a postive aspect of the video.

Overall I feel as though 1, 2 and 3 are the ones which have the most potential. 1 clearly identifies a memory but may appear too dark. 2 is vibrant and helps reflect the idea of drugs, however using this before the characters take drugs may seem very awkward and will not truly make sense. 3 is subtle and presents a memory but could still appear too dark in contrast to the video. All of these tests both have their positive aspects and negative aspects. I have attempted to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of these images intentionally in order to show that using any of these may be a good idea in some respects and a negative idea in others. The final two I feel are too distracting, if 1 and 3 are potentially too dark then 4 almost certainly is too dark and grey. The final image would not make sense at all to use in the video. Perhaps when the characters take drugs it would be something interesting to use (as though they are being stripped from reality) but it still will most likely appear silly and the audience will not be able to understand what is happeneing or where to focus on.

Friday Filming/Update on Editing

On Friday me, Katie, Sean and Emily filmed the final part of the video. This part involved the characters me and Emily play going into a house and continuing to drink alcohol and have sex. This was done in order to conform to the typical teenage antics displayed in numerous alternative rock videos. We have continued the editing stage and now have only one verse next to complete. There are still aspects which need to be improved upon I.E some parts of the editing will be tightened. The editing at the beginning of the video is going to become much slower than orignally planned. It is being slowed and lengthened in the beginning parts of the narrative, the reason for this is so that is allows the editing to 'pick up' along with the tempo of the song, the editing near the end of the video will stay consistant with its fast paced nature but in order to highlight the urgency of the narrative (in the sense that the characters are getting more passionate feelings for eachother) then the editing must start off relatively slow and then gradually increase in speed.

More digipack images

Here are some more images which have been made possibly for the digipacks. These designs follow the same design and the same look. They both use black and white and have used Photoshop in order to add some colour back in to the image to create a similar mood. The mood and tone it creates is fairly dark. Possibly the images are too dark in contrast to the video. Peronsally I believe that the quality of these images are very good and present a tone which is very effective. The fact that the parts which have been coloured back in have affiliations with drugs helps signify the importance of drugs to the characters. It makes it appear as though they're the only part which matters. Drugs are a major theme of the video, however they are more celebrated which the images may not directly signify. However the images do make the idea of drugs stand out far more noticably which can help the digipacks link to the video and be effective in creating a tone.

Rough Cut

http://katsawesomea2blog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/music-video-rough-cut.html

Here is a rough cut to the video we have produced. Notably this is only from the live performance without the narrative. We can edit in the narrative in later. Overall I am happy with what has been acheived thus far. Some of the vocals do still need to be synchronised to the music however the majority of the vocals are syncronised already.