Final Music Video

Untitled from nathan james on Vimeo.

Final Digipak - Ancillary Task

I am extremely pleased with the end result of Georgia's hard work on the Digipak; it paid off!
I think that it looks really interesting and fits the genre of the music particularly well. All of the photographs that we took for the piece look really good together; they work well as a collection.
I love the design of the CD, I think that it was a really clever imaginative idea to use that particular picture in that place. My only criticism is the picture on the back page- this is one that I personally do not feel is a strong or good enough photograph to be considered as being 'back cover material'. In this way, I do not feel that the Digipak could be considered an existing media product; but other than that one photograph, the product is excellent and I am inspired by the ideas that went into making it!

Final Magazine Advertisement - Ancillary Task

I am very pleased with the final magazine advertisement that we produced. It is somewhat different from how I imagined it would be, but there are some similarities in my vision and the end result.
I must say that it was a particularly challenging task trying to make sure that the advertisement looked 'just right', and in this way; effective. After all, it would need to be affective, as it is meant to intice people to purchase a copy of the album.
However dark the photographs are, I think that this adds to the effect that we were trying to create, and resultedly makes the whole product more effective in being eye-catching and attention-grabbing.
If I was to re-create the magazine advertisement, starting from scratch, I don't think that I would particularly change much about the planning, production or end result; as I feel that myself and Carli worked particularly well on the piece.

Final Part Of The Re-Filming Analysis - Wednesday 17th March

Due to the failure of the lights etc. whilst filming on Tuesday, we had to organise filming on the Wednesday in order to get all of our footage finished and tidied up. This was necessary if we were going to meet the deadline for getting the music video and coursework completed.

Firstly, me and Georgia had to go to Charlotte's house from school at around 12pm. While we were at her house, she finished getting ready for the filming and I did her make-up how we wanted it- the same as how it had been for the other filming sessions.

Nathan met us at Charlotte's house shortly after, as he had had to go back to his house to load his car up with all of the equipment and to get changed as he needed to be in some parts of the video, himself. We then we set off for the woods in New Ash Green and Carli met us there sometime later.

At around 2.30pm, after capturing all of the shots that we needed, and a few extra as back-up, we had to change location going to the barn in Hextable, to film shots for the other part of the video.

It took us a while to be able to set up the area and put petrol in the generator, after doing which, we were able to start again. The filming went to plan and we managed to get all of the filming done just before the video camera ran out of battery!

We finally finished filming for the day, and hopefully for the whole project, at around 6pm.

Third Part Of Re-Filming Analysis - Tuesday 16th March

Myself, Carli and Nathan decided that we wanted to get the last pieces of the filming at this location done. We planned that setting up the area and taking the shots we needed would roughly take about an hour and a half. We planned to start at 5pm. However, it took myself and Nathan ages to set up and then we got stuck in traffic, getting to my house to pick up some more equipment, at around 10 past 6.

While myself and Carli went to pick Charlotte up from her house, Nathan went back to the barn with the other equipment to finish setting up. We got stuck in traffic yet again, reaching the barn, and Nathan, finally at around 7 o'clock.

We had major technical faults during filming and ended up re-scheduling for Wednesday 17th March, as Charlotte was available almost all day for filming. One of the spotlights that we were using stopped working, so in order to get the light that we needed to film the material, we had to swap the lights over and then drive Nathan's car into the barn so that we could use the headlights to make the area bright enough. As this took quite a while- to get the car parked in exactly the correct place and at the correct angle to produce the shadows that we had created in the first and second sessions of filming at this location, the generator ran out of petrol, so all of the lights stopped working. Being in a derelict location, and with absolutely no light, we decided we could actually be considered in danger and so wanted to leave immediately. We packed all of the equipment into the cars as quickly as possible and discussed times that we would be able to film over the following couple of days. We agreed that Wednesday was easiest and that we would be able to film at both locations on this day; as we had a lot of time.

Roles In My Group

Who did what exactly?
NOTE: I did not do more work that some of the members of my group, however, on analysing our roles, I was able to write most of the things that I, myself, did, but could not remember exactly all of the work that other members did.

Bethany Rossiter

I was present for all of the days of filming and photography that the group did - as it was my friend outside of school that we were using, so I suppose I had to be, and also due to the fact that I have not many commitments outside of school that use a great deal of my time, as others in the group felt they did. I tried to give my opinions and ideas where I could, and stretched the small amount of creativity that I thought I had, in order to put ideas forward for the group's use. I had a small responsibility before each of the filming sessions to do Charlotte's make-up in order to gain the specific look that myself and Georgia had previously decided was appropriate to our genre and ideas. I also played a large role in deciding what Charlotte should wear in the filming and photographs, as it was mostly me and Nathan that were present, we had to choose the clothes and footwear that we would use. I filmed some of the footage used in the music video, despite Nathan doing most of this. I played a part in editing the length of 'Into Dust by Mazzy Star', the song that we have used for the video. I produced a number of sketches and was responsible for the fonts posters that my group used in deciding what fonts to use on the Magazine Advertisement and Digipak. I also formed a questionnaire so that my group would be able to get feedback on the video and Magazine Advertisement, and then later, put the results from these into graphs and tables etc. so that the information would be more easily accessible to my group.
I also played a large part in the design and production of the Magazine Advertisement, as Myself and Carli did this.

Nathan Moseby

I personally feel that as Nathan was responsible mainly for the music video editing, he played a main role in the group work. As he was the one in the group that had access to the equipment; we were using his cameras to complete the filming and photography, he was present on all of the days of filming and photography. He took the lead on the editing of the music video, despite all of our ideas and opinions being given throughout, he had the best understanding of the program, and I feel, personally, that he is the most creative, and in this way; able, to create a brilliant end result in terms of a music video. I think he did a great job with the editing and he was mainly responsible for the organising of the filming and photographing days, as others in the group tended not to make an effort in the organisation of this area of the project. As Nathan toom on majority of the 'big boys' work, the things that needed a large numbers of hours dedication, he let the other members of the group, including myself, take control of the smaller tasks, enabling us all to make a joint effort to get the project done and finished.

Georgia Drury

Georgia, despite not being able to make it to the majority of the filming or photography sessions due to work commitments, played a key role in the ideas behind the shots and photos that we used in the actual media product. As she knew that she was a busy person, Georgia decided that it was best to base most of the time that she spent on media coursework, completing the planning and ideas behind the Magazine Advertisement; for myself and Carli to complete. Georgia, with some but little direction, completed the whole Digipak by herself, as she thought that this was necessary in order to put in an equal amount of work as the others in the group- due to the fact that she was unable to make most of the days spent photographing and filming.
I think that she did an excellent job of this, completing the gruelling, and very time consuming task of the Digipak, almost entirely by herself, only stopping to ask our opinions when she seemed unsure of her work.

Carli Rowell

Carli was unable to make the majority of the sessions that my group used for filming and photography, due to other commitments. Of course this did not stop her playing a key role in the ideas and planning behind the production part of the ancillary tasks. She produced some truly great ideas in the form of sketches for the second set of photographs that we would need to use for the Digipak, as we did not like the first set. The only reason that I have chosen not to use Carli's sketches on my own collection of pieces of work as coursework, is because she mis-spelt the title of the song, and I did not personally want to include an error that large on my own collection of work as I felt it was worth the extra effort to create my own. Myself and Carli completed the Magazine Advertisement section of the coursework, as an ancillary task. During this small project, Carli was excellent when it came to putting ideas forward, and many of the suggestions that she made on producing the Magazine Advertisement are in the end result, and the reason that it looks as effective and great as it does.

How did I personally find working in a group to complete media coursework?

I found it extremely challenging to work with the members of my group, despite being friends beforehand, there were a great deal of arguments or upsets during the production of our coursework. Afterwards, we have analysed the situation that occured being due to the fact that there was a communication problem between the people in the group. For example, during filming or photographing days, both Myself and Nathan were aware that Carli and Georgia had work commitments that they could not escape. So, on deciding days to get the work done, we would ask if they were available to spend time on it and would find out that they were busy. As a result, we would do the work without the other two members of the group, and this ended up as an argument, as they were still implying that they would like to be informed on the filming and photographing sessions, despite not being able to make the date or time. I consider this a completely fair comment or request to make, however, at the time we were clearly not thinking about whether they needed to know or not, as they were busy, and we needed to get the work done. I thought that the coursework project was made more difficult by the fact that there wasn't a fair share of work being done and I have been extremely upset by the fact that some people are willing to take credit for others' hard work.
I personally feel that the coursework was also made more difficult by the lack of ideas being shared amongst the group due to lack of attendance on filming days, whether this be due to members of the group working, or taking time out at their own leisure.
In conclusion, working in a group is extremely difficult in my opinion, as working to suit four different peoples' schedules and tastes is almost impossible.
If I were to construct another music video in completing coursework, I would choose the group in which I work much more carefully, and attempt to make sure that there was a fair amount of work being completed by all of the members of the group, in order to make the whole group feel included.

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feedback is a very important part of the production and correction process in the coursework task.

Throughout the production of both the ancillary and main tasks, it was vital that we collected some kind of response from each other on how they felt about the work that we had done so far. Not only was it essential that we gained feedback in our group, however, but we also considered it very important to seek guidance from those working on their own projects around us, in our media studies class. In our class at school, we were able to help each other with parts of the project that we got stuck on, and were able to show each other things that we had learned throughout the production process, and we were able to make suggestions on how to improve each other's work. Sometimes the view of a person working outside of the project is more effective than one with an eye close to the work- as we cannot fully focus and think logically when it comes to the pressure of completing our own coursework.

A specific example of how constructive criticism can have a large and very important effect on a project can be presented through the feedback that we received from our media studies teacher regarding our inital idea. Out first idea of a song to produce a music video for was Michael Buble's 'Haven't Met You Yet'. This is a very bubbly, cheesy song, and being a song that was in the chart at the time, we all thought it would be easiest to make a music video for this song as we all had lots of fresh ideas, many of which were based on the actual music video for the song. We did not consider the need for originality and splendour in the music video; instead, focusing on what was easiest and most convenient. On presenting our initial idea to our media studies teacher, she was able to tell straight away that we had not completed the required planning process for the song, and was able to save us a great deal of time by telling us prior to beginning the creation of the music video, that our ideas would not work and would certainly not look good.

It was very important that we gained feedback close to the finishing of the production of our project, as it is much easier for an audience to pick up on mistakes and make usually helpful and inciteful suggestions when there is a finished product in front of them.

I did create a questionnaire, ready for my group to use, about halfway through the project, on almost completing the editing of the music video. However, unfortunately, there was not time for it to get completed. I have no doubts that it would have been very useful in making last-minute alterations to the music video though.

I used a simple but effective tally chart in order to be able to grasp an understanding of what type of font my peers thought would look best on the digipak and magazine advertisement, seperately. I thought that this would be helpful and interesting to know, and would be useful to myself and my group members when completing the production of our ancillary tasks. I also wanted to see if the chosen font for each was the same result, similar, or completely different. I was able to gain the desired information through the tally chart that I produced, and I was able to consult the results at various stages of the project.

There were various different areas that my group needed audience feedback for:

• Fonts used on both of the ancillary tasks - peers


• Initial idea and plan for a music video - teacher


• Production of the various different parts of the Digipak - teacher and peers


• Production of the Magazine Advertisement - teacher and peers


• Production of the music video, at various stages of the production process - teacher and peers


• Photographs used for the ancillary tasks - teacher and peers

In conclusion, I consider audience feedback to be a vital part of the production process as it is needed in both forms of constructive criticism; in order to improve the product, and praise; in order for us to understand exactly what is good or works well in the product, and what we should try our best not alter or change, when making other changes to the piece.

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The connection between the main product and ancillary tasks was vital. It was essential that we had made links between them and made sure that they worked well together. We did this through the close consideration of the fonts, colours and photographs.
For example, the lighting, outfits-style and poses etc. in the photographs needed to ‘match’ or seem alike. We had to re-take the photographs that we were going to use to create the Digipak in order to get a set of matching photographs. This was due to the fact that we had not researched and analysed the importance of ‘brand identity’, as the original set of photographs that we had taken for this purpose were very different from one another. They had different lighting, background, outfits, make-up etc., as we thought that this was how we wanted them to look. However, we afterwards took another set of photographs matching features of the Magazine Advertisement and the main task so that there would be links between the three products.I think that the main task and ancillary tasks compliment one another due to the fact that we had applied our understanding of the need for the link in using small features that worked between them; such as, lighting (our photographs are quite dark- which works well with the genre and sets the correct tone of the video).
We used photographs between the products, the photograph taken with the camera pointing down towards the Wellington boots that Charlotte was wearing when filming the music video (and can be recognised in the video) was used twice on the Digipak. This was once, on the disc space of one of the inside pages, and also on the other inside page of the Digipak, on the bottom right-hand corner of the page.
The photographs used for the Magazine Advertisement, that were over-layed together to create a specific mysterious and solemn-looking effect on the product, were screen-grabs of shots taken from our actual music video. These shots were a photo of the fairy lights on the floor of the barn that we used in the music video, and also a photograph of Charlotte singing in the actual music video.

Outlining the main task

For the main task in the project, my group and I had to plan and produce a music video for a song of our own choice, provided we had consent from the record label that owned the rites to said song. My group chose to use 'Into Dust' by the band 'Mazzy Star'. In order to achieve the end result of a final music video, we had to research and outline to ourselves the requirements needed.

Outlining the ancillary tasks

The two ancillary tasks that were required in addition to the main task were the Digipak and Magazine Advertisement that supported the music video. My group and I had to firstly research the definition of a 'Digipak' and 'Magazine Advertisement'.

Continuity and house style

The use of continuity throughout the ancillary tasks and the main product that we produced was essential. However, there were particular problems that arose during the production of the ancillary tasks, as we could not link the fonts between the two. The font that Georgia used when producing the Digipak did not suit the Magazine Advertisement that Carli and I made, and vice versa. This created an issue when we had to address the requirements of continuity between the two tasks, as we could not find a font that fitted both. By reaching this unfortunate complication, we had to question our ability to retain a house style. However, we addressed the necessity of continuation throughout the products that we produced by finding other aspects that we could alter to fit in with a said 'house style'.

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use the media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

As none of the members in my group, myself included, knew how to use any of the programs that were required to create our music video, we had to experiment on the programs before we started the project. We all had very basic skills at the beginning of the production of our music video, and these skills developed throughout the process, as a result of their constant use.

The entire planning, editing and construction process was completed on 'Apple Mac' computers. Admittedly, this type of computer is out of my personal comfort zone, aswell as the other members of the group in which I was working, as we have always been used to completing our work on Windows PCs.

The internet was used as the main source for research and publishing work. I used numerous websites to assemble the research that I needed in order to gain the required information for my project; the main sites that I used were 'www.wikipedia.org' and 'www.youtube.com'. 'www.blogger.com' was the networking website that was used for the broadcast of the collection of documents that contributed to my coursework. This was used as a substitute for the traditional methods of publishing coursework, such as folders or sketchbooks, which I would have had to have used had I not had access to this website.
We had to use specialist equipment when we were filming/shooting the music video. The equipment that was necessary in the production of the video included;

• digital video camera (Sony) - this was for filming the video, and allowed us to easily upload the material onto the computer for editing and composition.


• digital photography camera (Panasonic 25mm) - this was used both in the filming process, to create evidence of working (the pictures are shown throughout my blog entries), and for the ancillary tasks, for which we had to take still photographs.


• tripod - this held the camera perfectly still when filming shots that did not require movement and was a necessity throughout the filming process.


• dolly - this allowed us to create a smooth, non-juddering camera motion on shots that required basic camera movement. On the shots that required a 'floaty' ending, we had to film the scene with the camera hand-held.

In order to stay in contact with members of my group, for example, when organising days in which we needed to complete the planning, photography and filming parts of the work, we used social networking sites such as 'Facebook' to converse. Mobile phones also played a large part in the production of our project, through the use of these we were able to stay in contact regularly, which was vital to the completion and arrangement of certain tasks throughout.

There were numerous programs that I had to use in order to edit at different stages throughout the construction process of the video. Firstly, 'GarageBand' was used to edit the length of the song; as the original copy of the song was exceeding five minutes in length. We had to cut pieces of the instrumental part of the song from both the beginning and the end to fit the exam board requirements.

In order to achieve the professional quality of the Magazine Advertisement, as part of the ancillary task, we chose to use the program 'Indesign', as this allowed us to use specific features such as the overlay technique. This program prevented the product from looking inadequate or amateur.

I used 'MovieMaker' to produce the animatic presentation of the shots that we were hoping to use as a basis for shot ideas when both filming and constructing the music video.

The software used for the editing, and therefore composition, of the music video was 'Final Cut'. In order to access and edit the clips that we had filmed for the music video, we had to import them into this program and watch each of the clips as we needed them. We then had to find the exact part of the clip that we required to add into the video, cut it and drag it down the computer screen, onto the bar that held the composition of the clips. After finding all of the clips that we wanted to include, we then added in effects, for example, cross dissolve, and placed them over the beginnings and ends of shots in order to produce a smooth and professional shot transition.

Evaluation Question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluation Question 1 Document

Construction Of Magazine Advertisement

1. We opened a new, blank document in Adobe Photoshop and chose a black background colour.

2. We then added in our first photograph, using the 'place tool', which then enabled us to be able to edit the size of the photo. Me and Carli felt that it would look good if the photo was approximately half the size of an a4 side, which would be the size of the advertisement in an actual magazine.

3. We then had to create a new layer by clicking on the 'make new layer' icon. We could then add on our second photograph, placing and sizing it accordingly.

4. After discussing and clarifying what kind of effect we both had in mind for the product that we were constructing, we used the 'layer mask' tool to effectively 'cut' the edges of the photo away so that we were left with the parts that we wanted only. This would enable us to be able to overlay the two photos, only having the parts that we had left of this photo (which would be on top), visible and blended with the original first photo.

We then used the gradient tool, selecting the icon/gradient that is best described as a box fading diagonally from white to black.

5. We then changed the gradient by selecting the 'gradient colour'. We chose to use the 'white into transparent', as, after talking to a member of our media studies and discussing it with him, we decided that this would work best to create the effect that we were looking for.

6. After a while spent on playing around with dragging the line used to create this (changing direction and length every time to see which looked and worked best), we finally agreed on a result that we thought looked really good. After consulting the font chart that I made previously and considering the results that I have shown in the form of a tally in a different blog post, we added in the title 'Mazzy Star'. This was a very rough outline of what we wanted the title to look like, as we were yet to decide the size, placing and effects that we put on it, if any.

7. We then began to add on all of the text boxes and text that we required for the mag advert. We tended not to pay too much attention to font and size as we did this.

8. As it was vitally important that the product looked 'just right', we had to alter the text font, size and placement; and it took a great deal of our time playing around with this as we just couldn't agree!

9. In the screenshot below, you can see the further development/ construction of the product in this way. Also, we tried to add on elements of existing media products that we thought might make our own look more professional. Like, for example, we added on an HMV logo, as we had seen this on an existing product prior to creating our own. We also added on the record label logo to which 'Mazzy Star' are signed; which Georgia had designed beforehand, to add on to the Digipak back cover.

10. The final copy of the Magazine Advertisement.

I think that my group members are very happy with the product that myself and Carli created and I feel particularly proud because I think that it looks very good and could be considered an existing media product of this kind. We have included all of the aspects of an advert that our research has shown us, and have managed (due to a lot of hard work) to create the desired effect. Overall I think that it fits the genre of both 'Mazzy Star' and 'Into Dust' very well.

Construction Of Digipak

Front cover construction

Georgia was constructing the entire Digipak on her own, on behalf of the group, with our occasional input and direction.
1. Choosing the best and most appropriate photograph
We all liked this photograph and think that it's a really strong picture. It's bold in that it's highly unusual in terms of pose. I also really like the lighting, for example, at the top of the photograph there is a very strong shadow of Charlotte's hand and head on the wall behind her. I think that this makes a really nice effect.

2. Changing the colour, hue and saturation
Nathan, prior to Georgia making her own alterations to the picture, was editing the pictures using effects himself, and from this we were able to all agree that we liked the effect that Nathan had been able to create. And so, this gave Georgia a very good idea of what to do next with the picture, and we were all happy with the end result of the edited photograph.


3. Creating the 'Mazzy Star' band title
Georgia created a 'logo' to put on the front cover that included the essential information and what would typically be found on an existing media product of this kind.
In order to do this, Georgia focused on the brown shades that were caused by the de-saturation effect that she had used on the original photograph. She wanted to use a blurred effect but after doing this, the whole group, and our media studies teacher included, felt that it didn't look right and we all made suggestions to fix this problem.


4. Adjusting the 'Mazzy Star' text
Despite group discussions on how we felt about the text that was used on the Digipak, and the need for it to match that was used on the Magazine Advertisement; we all decided that this text looked best on the Digipak and the text that we had used on the Magazine Advertisement did not not work on this product, and vice versa.
In conclusion, this is the text that we thought worked best on this product.

5. Editing
After the initial idea of using a blurred effect on the hand and then placing the text 'Mazzy Star' over the top, and our decision that this would not work, Georgia then went on to experiment on using just a text box with no blur effect used. This did not look right either, however.

6. The position of the text
It was then essential to play around with the position of the two text boxes. It was a very challenging task making the decision of where to place the text boxes on the area, because it need to look 'just right'! Georgia, with direction from the rest of the group, managed to get the placing right eventually, although we all agreed that there was still something missing. Nathan added the light in the corner of the product, a 'lens flare', as we thought that it would look really good here. First of all, we thought that it should be placed on Charlotte's hand somewhere, but it did not work here.


7. 'Stardust'
Our media studies teacher suggested that we add something 'twinkly' and stardust-like to the product as it would fit and work really well, as the title says 'Into Dust'. Below is our final product.


Inside construction

Georgia, after getting the idea from our media studies teacher, took a photograph of a cream sheet, with the 'ruffled' effect. This made the crinkles in the sheet stand out, adding an extra effect to the photograph.

She added three of the photographs that we had used and obtained throughout the journey of our project, and placed them on top of the sheet, overlaying them, and blurring them into the background. We thought that it was important to use photographs that related to other aspects of the project, i.e the main video and magazine advertisement, in order for the audience to be able to associate them with one another and to make the chain of products easily recognisable. It took Georgia quite a few tries to get the positioning, size and blurring just right but in the end I think that she made it look really good!

A copy of our final inside cover for the digipak.

Back cover construction

1. The original photograph.
We decided that this photo would work really well as a back cover photo mainly because of the large amount of space on the right-hand side, which allows adequate room for the track listing.
I don't particularly like this photo very much as I think that it is dull, but the rest of my group seemed keen to use it, so I thought it best we follow 'majority rules' in this case, as it couldn't be that bad if they all liked it!



2. Georgia edited the contrast and saturation of the photoshop, in order to maintain the consistence of this throughout the Digipak (she wanted it to fit with the tone of the photo on the front cover).
She also cropped the original photo in order to fit the size requirements in making it a square shape. The original image was let down by the mistake of including the radiator underneath Charlotte's hand- this would not be found on existing media products unless on purpose, which I don't think would be a very good or interesting photo anyway!

3. By adding a radial lighting effect to the background space of the image, Georgia was able to make the image darker around the images - linking it with more effectively with the photo on the front cover of the Digipak.

4. It is important to include the addition of typical Digipak elements such as barcode, record label etc.- and these were elements that Georgia also had to consider, create and include, resultedly. She also included the additon of the 'small print', as she referred to it.

5. Georgia used right-alignment for the text of the track listing, as she felt that this was very different to other existing media products of this kind that she had seen in her research. She used a type of text wrap around the light of the background that she had added in previously, and this helped to shape the light and Charlotte's face. I think that this works really well. For the list of tracks in the text back, Georgia used the tracks for the album that the song 'Into Dust' actually belongs, as she felt that there was some significance in this, and that it would make most sense.



6. Georgia added some final touches, and finished the Digipak back cover. I think that it does look really good, and despite all criticism that I had for the original photograph, I do think that it looks really good and I am very pleased with the end result. Well done Georgia!

Re-Taking Pictures For The Digipak - Monday 8th March

Nathan and I spent a few hours taking pictures of both Nathan and Charlotte to use in the Digipak. This time, as it was our second time trying to produce photographs adequate to be included in our Digipak, we had to take the shots very carefully, and despite only wanting to spend a very short time completing this section of the production, we ended up spending quite a large amount of time preparing and photographing Charlotte. We dressed Charlotte in a floral playsuit and the maroon colour blazer that she was wearing throughout the part of filming that we produced in the barn. This was to demonstrate that we had chosen very carefully to create the effect of continuity in creating our music video and ancillary tasks.

We used the sketches that Carli had published on her blog previously, to give us incite into what exactly we wanted the photographs to look like in terms of angle, placing and Charlotte's expression or movement etc. We decided on what strength of light we should use, as it was available to us in Charlotte's house at the time, as we could not predict prior to the photoshoot how exactly the photos would look. Myself and Nathan made an executive decision to use a cream background to stand Charlotte against whilst photographing her, as we did at Nathan's house, when we took the first set of photographs, as we decided this would later enable us to choose different photographs from both days of filming, as they would be similar in this way.

We only took a small number of photographs, as we decided that the ones that we did manage to capture were good enough on their own, but we did take a couple of extras to ensure that we did not need to return to take more photographs at a later date. I have chosen to publish the ones that I think look best.

Sketch 1.

The photographs taken.

Sketch 2.

The photographs taken.

Sketch 3.

The photographs taken.

Sketch 4.

Sketches Of Ideas For The Digipak Front Cover

To give the group a rough idea of what we wanted our digipak to look like, Carli produced some rough sketches of designs that she had been inspired by from a wide range of existing media and also other CD or Digipak cover designs, that she found on the internet.
However good the sketches are, unfortunately she managed to mis-spell the title of the song, naming it 'Into The Dust', instead of it's actual name; which is, 'Into Dust'.

So, in order to fix this problem I used Carli's sketches as a rough guideline, as the whole group really liked the ideas and outlines, and created my own, instead.

Idea 1

Idea 2 Idea 3

Idea 4

My Thoughts:

I really like the sketches and think they are very appropriately laid-out. I think that there are some very good ideas and will give us a good base for the creation of our Digipak.

Sketch 1. would be used as the front cover for the digipak, as it is really bold and strong. I really like this idea and think the whole group agrees on the image that it both uses and creates. In editing for its actual use, there are a large number of editing possibilities and effects that we could use on the original photograph that would look really good in the final product.

Sketch 2. is a necessity as 'Mazzy Star' is a band, and so consists of more than just a singer. It would be expected in any existing media product of this kind, that a picture of the whole group would be included, despite the main attraction to listening to the music being the singer. I think that our Digipak would be made more effective by the inclusion of the picture of the two members of the band.

Sketch 3. would be used as an extra photo of the singer inside the Digipak. I do not, personally, like this sketch idea, as it seems to be a bit bland or plain, as there is nothing very exciting going on in the photo.

Sketch 4. would most likely be used inside the Digipak. I really like the angle at which the sketch demonstrates how the singer would be facing etc. However, on taking the photograph that is our own version of this sketch, myself and Nathan decided that it would be more effective if Charlotte was laying down looking straight up towards the camera; with her hair spread out beside her.

Planning For The Digipak

Action Plan
For this task, we aree all going to put our own ideas forward and contribute to the planning of the appearance of the product.
Georgia is going to actually produce the whole of the Digipak on her own, a challenge she seemed happy to set herself, but we will offer her advice, guidance and help where appropriate.
Although Georgia will have to put a very large amount of work, time and effort into the production of this particular media product, as part of the ancillary task for our overall project, we will all have a contribution by offering our own opinions, as we all want to be able to appreciate the appearance of the end result.

Ellie Goulding - Existing Album Cover
I researched on the internet to find this existing media product. I find this cover particularly attractive as it has lots of lights on it, in relation to the title of the album. To me, this makes the idea very clever, as it is mixing up the different products of this artist. I think that this continuity/ relation is very clever. The photograph used is very appealing, as the artist would be considered by most as being very attractive.
The artist is spread across almost the whole of the space given. This makes her dominant and shows her as being the main attraction. Ellie Goulding's existing fans would recognise this as being her album cover as they would recognise the large photo of her on the front. The photograph on the front cover seems to me to be almost like a statement, and it works very well.

Planning For The Magazine Advertisement

Action Plan

Myself and Georgia are going to concentrate on the production of our group's Magazine Advertisement. We are going to plan the piece; by coming up with ideas and sketches. So ulitmately, we have decided to put as many of our ideas toegther a spossible to create the advertisement that we all want and are happy with.

Then, myself and Carli are going to actually produce the product. I think that it is best that two of us work on this, as we need more than one opinion on what looks good or bad during the production process. This will have a great impact on the end result, hopefully!

We will need to use the program Indesign and possible Photoshop to produce the product. I think that the piecee will look more effective and attractive if we both practice our skills on these programs before we begin the production.

Sketches and Ideas

I have drawn a sketch to represent what I would like the end result to look like. This sketch was based on the ideas of both myself, and Georgia.

Personally, I really like the idea of having two pictures blended together, in a 'overlay' style. I think that it will really suit the genre of 'Mazzy Star', and in particular 'Into Dust'. However, prior to the construction of this product, I must express personal worries about the skills involved in making an effective-looking product. We want to be able to achieve an end result that could be interpreted as an existing media product. In this, we are competing with products that have expertise exercised on them! However, due to the fact that there will be both myself and Carli, I'm sure that we will be able to pull it off.

And, Georgia has also drawn her own sketch, to represent her initial ideas when asked to produce a magazine advertisement.

To me personally, the piece looks a little more suitable for a magazine cover, rather than a magazine advertisement. From this, I can learn that this may be an issue in our production period and is something that I will have to keep a close eye on, in case our end result doesn't look effective on completion.