Equipment Testing

This is a short video that I created of myself using the equipment that will be available for me to use to film the final music video.

Aperture Testing

This is a short video that I made of myself using the 7D to create a Depth-of-Field shot as well as using the aperture to change the brightness of the shot.


Equipment Testing

Today I had a go at using the equipment that is available for the filming of my music video. It was a valuable experience as it enabled me to become familiarised with the cameras, especially using the 7D for Depth-of-Field shots. This was done by placing 3 objects, at different distances apart, on a table and using the 7D to film one object whilst leaving the other two out of focus. This was very useful as I am thinking of using Depth-of-Field shots in the opening of my music video. This shot will be on the beach and I would have the actor looking out to sea whilst the waves crash against the shoreline. During this scene, the actor and the waves would be out of focus and as the music fades in, the actor and beach would become focused.


These are some examples of Depth-of-Field shots:

 In this picture, the first car is in focus, whilst the other two are not. However, by easily adjusting the camera focus, the user can change what colour car is in focus.

In this picture, Gromit is in the foreground and is in focus and the car is not. By changing the camera focus, the user can put the red car, in the background, in focus and have Gromit, in the foreground, out of focus.



Effects

In my music video, I think it would be suitable if I used colour correction to darken the footage as this would suit the style and genre of the song, which are both quite somber and sad. I would import the footage into Adobe After Effects and use colour correction to change the footage from normal colour to a darker shade.

For example, in the editing of my AS film opening, I used colour correction, in Adobe After Effects to change the colour of the footage from a bright colour, which is how it looked when I filmed it, to a dark blue colour, as this helped to show the audience that the scene was quite somber.

Instead of changing the colour to a dark blue, I could shoot the music video in monochrome, which is back and white, as this would also fit the style and genre of the song. I could either shoot the whole video in black and white or I could highlight certain colours in the footage, for example, everything could be in black and white, but the colour of the actor's guitar could be brown.

These are examples of using black and white with certain objects in colour:

Music Video Ancillary Task

This is another music video that I created/directed/starred in/edited. It is badly made and the music is not the best quality but I made this one to get used to the different shots and camera angles that are used when creating and filming a music video.

This is another music video that we created using "Tribute" by Tenacious D.

Possible Locations for Music Video

I am thinking of using the song "The Wrestler" by Bruce Springsteen for my music video as I really like the song and believe that I can make a very good music video to accompany it. The song is quite slow and I feel that it goes well with a bleak winter's day, which is good as winter is coming up. Also, I feel that the actor in the video could wear a big thick jacket as he walks along a desolate/bleak beach on a cold and windy morning. It is an acoustic song, which means that the locations must not be big urban areas as this would be unsuitable, but it should include shots of the beach and countryside as these go with the feel and style of the song.

Possible Locations

• Beach (on a winters day when the sea is really rough and crashing against the shore)
• Countryside/country lanes (maybe with damp roads running through them)
• Cliff (with camera looking out to a rough sea)
• Places with street lamps

This is a short film I made using the images that I took whilst trying to find suitable locations:

Photoshop 2

This is the finished picture. I opened an image of a paratrooper in Photoshop and then used the Quick Selection tool to highlight the areas of the paratrooper and copied and pasted it onto the green field. I then resized the copied paratrooper and positioned it in another part of the screen. I did the same thing for the two C-47 aircraft as well as the paratrooper on the ground. 

This is how the picture looked in the design stage of Photoshop. 

Photoshop 2

This is another image that I played around with in Photoshop. I started out with an image of a book and used the Quick Selection Tool to select the book and delete the background. I then pasted in a wooden fence and a picture of the sky.

Photoshop

This is a weird landscape that I created in Photoshop. I started off with a bare landscape and then found other images to add on to it. Once I had chose an image, I then used the Quick Selection Tool to select the part of the image that I wanted to use and then copied and pasted it into the landscape. I then used the scale tool to adjust the size of the image so I could place it where I wanted on the landscape.

This is the landscape that I started off with.

Music Video Audition

During half-term I managed to get my actor to perform a bit of the song that he is going to sing. I chose this actor as he is the same age as Bruce Springsteen which means that the style and tone of Bruce's voice will match the actor who is singing the song. For example, I would not chose a young person to sing this song as it would not look right as their voice would not be as heavy and as rough as Bruce's and I would not choose a women to perform this song as the singer is clearly a man and it would not look right. However, the actor in this video suits the part really well. On the other hand, in this audition, the actor is not playing the guitar in time with the music and is not always playing it, yet this is a minor problem that can be sorted out nearer the time of the music video.

Storyboard Animatic

This is the animation of my storyboard that I created using Windows Movie Maker.

This is the feedback that I received for my animatic:

Could do with a little more variety of shots and shots of different settings. Could focus less on the guy singing and the guitar.

1/10/2012 9:04 AM

Great locational shots if you can get the real life ones.. be sure to focus on the singing and his head as he sings, include as much depth of field as possible, it will really help add to the mood. An idea may be to have some moving shots along the guitar as opposed to just stills and zooms.

1/10/2012 9:03 AM

- good and appropriate choice of location - perhaps have more shots of the singer without the guitar to give more meaning to the song (e.g. walking along the beach) - good variety of shots used

1/10/2012 9:03 AM

possibly more locations

1/10/2012 9:03 AM

more close ups of the singer when he isn't singing. when he's looking out to sea etc.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

great idea. maybe try a few different shots, but don't make them to quick as it will not go with the genre.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Good stuff, try a few different shots and a little faster edits. Like the close up shot of the man.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

- maybe another change of location to add variety - good focused shots on the guitar

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

The scenery of the shots matches well with the music choice. But maybe some different shots of scenery as well would be good.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Really good... maybe more shots of the surrounding location.

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Nothing to add really . maybe like a shot of him singing and walking on the beach or through town?

1/10/2012 9:02 AM

Storyboard

Calendar of things to do/ Time Management

Research Task

Research music videos to do

Research Task

Research music videos to do

Planning Task

Planning locations and actors

Planning Task

DigiPak Draft 4

With this DigiPak, I like the different shots of Bruce Springsteen wearing the same clothes, as this gives the DigiPak a feeling of consistency and makes it seem more professional. I also like the position of Bruce Springsteen on the back cover as he is looking at the camera, which gives the fans the feeling that he is looking directly at them. The positioning of the album song names is also quite good as they are cleverly positioned next to the singer.

Preview Mode

DigiPak Draft 3

I like this DigiPak as the front and back covers are the same theme, as the front cover is of Bruce Springsteen standing next to a car, and the back cover and inside cover are of dirt roads, as though he has driven along them. I also like the way that the round part of the DigiPak mathces the front cover, which makes it a good DigiPak as the design is very consistent.

Design View

Preview Mode

Music Poster Draft 4

This is a music poster for the album "Working on a Dream". To create it, I added a picture of Bruce Springsteen and then took a screen grab of the front cover of one of the DigiPaks that I created and then added it onto the poster. I then added the name of the album and singer as well as various compliments and praises from different music industries.

With this poster, I like the HMV logo in the bottom corner and the "Out Now" text. This is because it adds some professionalism to the poster as the HMV logo and text are often seen on album posters in shop windows. I also like the background image as it matches the image from the front cover of the DigiPak that I created on InDesign. The different compliments about the album by different Music critics and industries adds a nice touch to the poster. 

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Music Poster Draft 3

This is a music poster for the album "Working on a Dream". To create it, I added a picture of Bruce Springsteen and then took a screen grab of the front cover of one of the DigiPaks that I created and then added it onto the poster. I then added the name of the album and singer as well as various compliments and praises from different music industries. 

This poster may be my least favourite poster of the four that I made as I'm not too sure I like the colour, yet it was the only one that actually showed up on the image. However, I do like the background image of the singer as well as the matching front cover of the DigiPak. 

     

Music Poster Draft 2

This is a music poster for the album "Working on a Dream". To create it, I added a picture of Bruce Springsteen and then took a screen grab of the front cover of one of the DigiPaks that I created and then added it onto the poster. I then added the name of the album and singer as well as various compliments and praises from different music industries.

I like the simplicity of this album poster as there is not much happening, i.e. loads of bright colours and images, which means that it is easy to look. I also like the gravel road that heads off into the distance as it compliments the style of the album as it is quite laid back and easy going. The position of the artist's name and album name is quite good as they cover the top of the page, which means that there in not much empty space. I also like the compliments by the various music industries as it adds some professionalism to the album poster. 

 

Music Poster Draft 1

This is a music poster for the album "Working on a Dream". To create it, I added a picture of Bruce Springsteen and then took a screen grab of the front cover of one of the DigiPaks that I created and then added it onto the poster. I then added the name of the album and singer as well as various compliments and praises from different music industries. 

I like this poster as I like the fact that it is in black and white and that there is not much information or pictures on it, which makes it quite simple and I feel that this simplicity suits the genre and style of the album. I also like the use of compliments by the different music industries as it shows the viewer just how good the album is. 

DigiPak Draft 2

For the 3 DigiPaks that I created on InDesign, I decided to just use images of Bruce Springsteen as he is the singer of the song that I am going to use for my music video. I chose to select only black and white images as I like the style and the theme of the pictures as they add to the somberness of the song, which I am going to cover. I also like the back cover of the album as I like the way in which the text is positioned next to the singer's head and body as he leans against a car.

I used the Magic Wand tool in PhotoShop to get rid of the background on the circular picture of Bruce Springsteen. However, when I clicked on the background, PhotoShop included part of Bruce's head to delete. To correct this, I clicked on the "Inverse" icon, which selected all of the picture, and then on the background layer on the right hand side of the screen. I then clicked "OK" and deleted this layer. Once the background was deleted I added another layer and then saved the image as a "PNG" file. I then imported it into InDesign where I was able to resize the image.

Design View

Preview Mode

DigiPak Draft 1

This is another DigiPak that I have made. To do this, I found images of Bruce Springsteen off the Internet and added them to InDesign. I then resized them and added the name of the songs and album name. The top two pictures are upside down as once they have been folded over, they will be facing the correct way. Also, I like the use of black and white as it makes the theme quite somber, which is the look I was aiming for. I also like the gravel roads for the front cover as it adds to the somberness of the album.

Design View

Preview Mode

Locations Music Video

This is a short film I made using the images that I took whilst trying to find suitable locations:

CD Cover

Today I have been working on the CD cover of the DigiPak. I inserted a picture of Bruce Springsteen into the circle and then added copyright information around the circle.

DigiPak Designing

This is a screenshot of the DigiPak that I have been designing.

Locations

For my music video I am going to use a number of different locations. I have taken some photos of the possible locations that I am going to use, however I am still looking for other locations.



Beach

I like this location as it is quite secluded, which suits the theme of the song.

When the tide is up, the actor could be standing on the shore looking out at the crashing waves. As the muisc fades in, at the start of the video, the actor could be looking out to sea, but be out of focus, and then is in focus once the music picks up.

By using the Rule-of-Thirds, the actor could stand just off to the side of the screen, making the castle look impressive. Also, I could use Depth of Field to focus on the castle and then onto the actor.

In this shot, the actor could have his back to the camera and be looking out to sea. The Rule-of-Thirds could be used to make the location more interesting as the actor would not be directly in the centre of the frame but rather just off to the left or right of it.

This location would be good as the actor could be leaning against that railings looking out at the boats and this would hopefully give the viewers the idea that he is contemplating about his life, which would suit the song very well.

Castle

From this location the actor can see the castle and the harbour. I like this location as the actor can stand in front of the camera and look out over the castle and boats.

This is another shot of the castle and harbour.

This bench could be used by the actor to sit on as he plays his guitar.

I like this shot as the actor could walk down the road, away from the camera, as the music fades in.

Whilst the music is fading out, at the end of the song, the actor could walk down the lane and disappear from view. 



Back Lanes

Throughout the video shots of the actor walking around/thinking about life will be mixed in with shots of him playing the guitar.

This is another location where the actor could walk down at the end of the song.

Possible Clothing that the Actor can Wear

I have been looking at possible clothing that the actor in my music video can wear. 

I like this leather jacket with hoodie as it is similar to the jacket that Bruce Springsteen wears in the music video "The Wrestler". 

I think these jeans go well with the jacket and suit the "laid-back" style of the singer.

 These boots are also quite good as they go with the rest of the outfit.

I like these wristbands and am thinking of maybe getting my actor to wear some in the video. 

Music Video Props

For my music video I am going to need the following props:

• An Acoustic Guitar
• A stool (for the actor to sit on in certain scenes)
• A bench (maybe)

DigiPak Design

Today I have been creating DigiPaks using Adobe InDesign CS4. I have found this time very useful as it has allowed me to familiarize myself with InDesign as well as give me some ideas of how my final design should look.

I used images that I found on the Internet and added them to the CD template. By doing this, I am hoping that it will give me a good idea about the kind of images that I will use for my final design.