Rough Cut

This is our rough copy for the music video we have made for the song Lover's Eyes which was orginally by Mumford & Sons but we used a cover of it that we found from youtube. As you can see from the rough copy we have had trouble with the balloon. We had some trouble make the shot all black and white with the red balloon being the only colour remaining. We tried some more effects to see if we could get the red balloon effect to work but we were again unable to make it work properly. We then decided to commission another past media student called James Corker. He was able to use the programme after effects to make the balloon a bright nice red standing out from the black and white background. We are then on adding these edited clips into premier to fit with the rest of the music video.

Album cover ideas

 

This is another idea for our album cover. We looked at other existing album covers and thought about the place they positioned the text. We decided as a group that it looks better to position the artist name and album title in the left hand top corner of the picture. We think this makes it stand out more against the light blue sky but it still looks subtle and doesn't take any of the attention away from the beach picture. On this idea we decided to have the lettering all capital letters as this makes it a lot more easier to read and stand out well. In our research we also found that this was common in other indie pop album art such as Mumford & Sons Babel and Sigh No More. We put dashes either side of the artists name and we think it helps make the name a main focus and draws attention to it. We make the album name close to the artists name as it ties them together well and makes the whole text look almost like a logo. It also looks alot more professional.



 

 

This one is a lot like the first as we have decided we are wanting to have the text positioned the way it is in hese examples. We tried using capital lettering again for this one and made sure the artist name was bigger than the album art as we think that should be the main thing on the front cover. We also experimented by underlining the artsit name to again make it a main focus if someone was to look at the album.  

Other album cover ideas

This is another idea we have tried for our album cover. We rearranged the album title and artist name in a different position to help find the best possible place for our final outcome. I think the artist name looks good on this example as it is positioned in the centre of the album cover making in the direct focus and evidently more important part of the cover. I think the text is really simple and nice and easy to read. Again the black text against the light coloured sky makes it more clear to read and stand out more. However I think the album title is maybe spaced out abit far from the artist name and it makes it looks to detached and not well thought out. This positioning makes it look like the text hasn't really been considered much and gives the thought that they have just been stuck on without considering the best possible place to make them look good. 

I think this positioning is nice and subtle. The light sky makes the black font stand out a lot which makes it easier to read and more of the focus of the album cover. I think this position is the best place for the artist name and album cover to be as it doesn't take any focus away from the image of the beach but the position and colouring of the text still make them a main focus point. However i think the album title is spaced too far away from the artist name and looks too messy. For our next idea i think we will experience with positioning them closer together. 

Filming

Today we were able to film the last bits we need for our music video.Our friend Ryan played the male character and Catherine played the female character. The clips we filmed are going to show the two being a couple and we decided to not use a tripod as we wanted the scenes showing the couple to have quite a hand held style to them. We filmed various shots showing the couple laughing and did a lot of close ups of their faces as we wanted to focus a lot on body language. We tried to be a bit more adventurous with filming this time and try and vary the shots up a lot more. For example on one part we did a medium close up of the couple feet walking across the grass and instead of just filming one shot of them walking from one point of view we decided to have it from behind the two as they walked as well as the side and once we edit this it will speed up just the small section instead of one long clip. We filmed in school but went on the back sports field that have a few tries and a large grassy field. We originally wanted to film in Newton Hall around some fields and grassy area but we were extremely delayed with getting this section filmed we decided to stick to filming in school to get it done and focus alot more on editing. We made sure we didn't get too much shots that showed the school as this way it gives it more of a better setting as we wanted to to be noticeably different from the shots showing the beach so it is evident that each section is at a different time and place. When editing we decided to edit the clips and give it a old fashioned vintage hand held style to it as we think it makes it seem more person than a normal style.  

Call sheet

Time to Meet	9:20 am.
Location to meet	Sixth Form Common Room
Location	Framwellgate
Description of Location	We are going to be using a long field, so we can highlight the depth of the freedom the couple had whilst being in a relationship. The field is isolated away, and is very basic which is all we wanted for these scenes.
Group	Ellie Snowdon, Sarah Hewitt, Kelly Senior and Catherine Kirk.
Characters	Catherine Kirk, playing the female in the music video and Ryan Hawkins playing the male lover.
Props	We dont need any probs for these scenes of footage.
Special instructions	Come prepeared even though the weather is supposed to be a little sunny, bring warm clothes just in case the actors have to stand around for a while. Toilets are nearby.

Album cover idea 1

We decided on the picture of the female character from our music video standing on the beach with two red balloon. We took this image while we were at the beach filming and we think its a really nice picture for a front cover as it is fitting with the music video and ties everything together well. We edited the image in instagram and this gave us a old fashioned simple and relaxing filter to it which links with the old fashioned hand held style filter we have used during some of the music video which shows the couple together. We used a picture of catherines character as it is the main focus of the music video and we want this to follow on through to the album artwork. We had her holding to red balloons and this is a iconic symbol that we are wanting to make frequent throughout the music video and advert and album artwork. We had a look at different positioning of the texts for the front cover and considered various different possibilities of where to put the artists name as well as the album name.We decided it was better to have the artists name bigger than the album title as this is the main part of it and the more important thing. However we have also tried have both of the writing quite large as this makes them more eyecatching and easier to read. We chose to used black font as this stands out against the background and makes it easier to read aswell as contrasting nicely against the light pastel style colours that are in the beach image. However we didn't want to take any focus away from the image of the female character holding the balloons as it is an important thing that we want to be able to be seen properly. I like this style of design because I think the 'the root of memories' album title flows well with the image and fits in perfectly at the bottom of the album cover. However I think that the artist name may be taking too much focus off the image and taking too much room up so we are going to make it smaller and in a different position in our next example idea. 

Possible Album Cover 2

This image is another possible album cover we are considering. We took this picture when we were filming at South Shields beach and it shows Catherine's character with two red balloon. However during the music video and the rest of the digi-pak ideas we only wanted one red balloon to keep it simple. If this is an image we are going to use of the actual album cover then we will probably edit the picture in photoshop to remove the second balloon. We have also been looking at different effect filters that make the pictures we have took more striking and eye catching. 

Ellie Goulding Research

In the video for the cover of Your Song by Ellie Goulding there is close up and extreme close ups throughout alot of the video. This is effective and shows the emotion of the person and how the song effects her feelings. This video has an interesting old fashioned hand held style camera that is used frequently for various shots throughout. This really gives off a warm and calm emotion to it and also works by involving the viewer into the song and the narrative. This effect also fits well with the mood of the song itself and how it has quite personal lyrics.

The Lighting used throughout is also quite bright and makes the narrative a more happy and pleasant feel. The bright light that can be seen on the singers face connotes happiness and the hope of the love she is singing about.

There is also various naturalistic style shots used of things such as trees and the environment. This makes the whole music video have a more normal realistic style to it. The singer can also be seen wearing normal clothing which makes her almost more connected to the audience and the people listening to the song. It also makes the narrative and the song more relatable which makes it have more of an emotional impact upon the viewer.

This music video also relates almost directly to the lyrics of the song. For example the lyrics are ‘i’ll buy a big house where we both can live’ and it then shows the singing at home with the person she is singing about. I think this is an effective thing to use when creating a music video as it really involves the audience and makes the music video more recognisable and memorable after it has been watched. Over all this music video tend to stick to a slow and calm feel that works really well with the melody of the song.

Mumford & Sons

 

These of some of the images we took at a Mumford & Sons concert we all went to on tuesday night. Because we are all fans of this bands made it better for research and getting ideas for our media project of an indie pop genre. We picked a Mumford & Sons song and found a cover for it and when we were able to bring in alot of the style that the actual band have. For example when we went to see them there was a row of lights over the top of the crowd as you can see on the image. This made the whole set have quite a carnival festival style theme. The plain lighting made the stage look quite simple and relaxing feel and this is the type of thing we want to represent through our whole media project. I think from going to see Mumford & Sons its given us all as a group some better ideas and more of an insight into how the band represent themselves and the feel and theme they have went for.

Possible Album Back

This is one of our ideas for a possible album back cover. We wanted to still go with the beach setting and location as this fits perfect with the music video aswell as the rest of the album art. We think its a good idea to have this beach setting a frequent thing throughout our project as it because quite symbolic and memorable. We chose to have the beach setting for our music video as the main location as it is known to be quite a relaxing and peaceful place which is what we want the audience to feel when watching it.

We made the album title in large font as it makes it the focus of attention for the album.We made the font of the song names positioned landscape as this then makes it flow better with the image of the beach. We picked black font as this stands out better against the light sky on the image.

Artist Name

We all decided in a group that the name Elliot Guy fits well for our artist name. We chose to do this because when doing our genre and artist research we found that most indie pop artists stick to the name as being the name of the actual singer rather than anything made up. We thought this particular name went well as it was a normal name that also gives a nice normal and laid back feel. We made sure the name was fitting for a male artist as this is the gender we have chosen.


 Elliot Guy
We think this style of writing links and goes well with the writing we were looking at for the album front cover. This writing is quite simple and spaced out well which makes it easier to read. The thin font also makes it sharp and strinking which will make it more eye catching to the audience.


Elliot Guy
This writing is more vintage and old fashioned than the other ones we have looked at and this links well with whole style of the music video aswell as the genre we have picked and ties the clothing, style of the song and narrative altogether effectively. However this writing may be slightly too feminine for our artist as we have chosen a male singer, but again this could make it more effective as the storyline and the song we have chosen itself is quite girly and focuses alot on love.


Elliot Guy

We think this writing is good because its quite thick and bold and this makes it more eye catching and shows its the focus of the album as it is the artist. We think this will also stand our well against the picture of the beach background.

Using location pictures

When reviewing the locations pictures that were taken on the location scout we all agreed they were of really good quality and would be perfect as the images included in our digi pak. Because we wanted to make sure our whole project tied together well and each separate product had a clear link and connection to the other using the beach photos was a good way to connect the digi pak artwork to the music video. We also found during our researching into the indie pop genre that it was common for artists to use photos and real life imagery in their artwork rather than animated 'cartoon' style like other genres tend to. This meant by using the beach photos we were fitting well to our genre and it would help distinguish and make our products recognisable to people who liked this genre of music. 

We have also been looking into the idea of using a software we have on our phones called Instagram to put a filter effect over the image. We did this using one beach image and it works really well and makes the picture seem alot more warm and calm.

Possible album cover

This is another image we are using in our album digi-pak. Ellie took this image when she went location scouting and we think that the colours tie in well with the other images we have and also the fact that the sun is beginning to set gives a calm and relaxing feel which is the mood we are wanting to portray. This image gives an all round peaceful feel to it and this also links with the style of music our genre and artist is aswell as the song we have picked for the music video. This image is one of our possibilties for the front album art cover however we are worried that it could be slightly too boring for a front cover and we are wanting something eye catching. We also have another image of Catherines female character holding the red balloon and this is also another image we are considering using for the front cover, however we have not got round to uploading it yet as it was taken on a phone.

Clouds

While doing our research we looked at the music video for Ben Howards Song The Old Pine and this give us some ideas for our music video. In the video there is various shots throughout showing the sky and the clouds moving in fast motion and we think this looked extremely good and because we are having the narrative of our music video to be about the female character reminiscing about her past relationship we think it would be a really good idea to try and use this type of thing in our music video to show the difference in time as well as it representing the change in the character since the relationship ended and how she is also moving on herself. We set up the camera in school outside of our media classroom and had it pointing at the sky. It was a relatively nice day so the sky was blue with clouds. We left the camera running for the majority of the lesson to try and capture as much movement in the clouds as possible so when we sped it up it showed a lot of fast change in the clip. However once we looked back over the footage it didn't show the clouds moving as much as we wanted to and the clip kept zooming in and out in order to try and pick something to focus on. We decided we will set the camera up again but pick a slightly windy day as this will give the clouds more movement. We will also switch the auto focus off the video camera and this should stop it from trying to focus and the clip will then be still. We considered possible places to set up the camera in order to get the best possible footage of the sky and we think it would be a good idea to set it up in one of our garden on a tripod. This will then stop anything from being in the footage we are recording and also give us more time to film and therefore better movement of the clouds once we speed it up. 

http://vimeo.com/22163776

This is the link for the video Old Pine showing the clouds.