Dividing the tasks..

We decided to divide the work we had to get done in our group so that we could work more efficiently and work forwards with peoples strengths. Though we all had set tasks to focus on we still all imputed and helped each other, especially when we had problems to work around. We did get things done this way however it was hard keeping good levels of communication up at all times. We were working on different things so we were usually based in different locations, sometimes at home blogging and drawing things up, in the media suit uploading and editing or out on location shooting. Working like this showed that we could work both as part of a team and individually.

Filming-miming

As our idea contained a lot of people we had to arrange and schedule lots of different filming dates. We did initial shoots followed my re shoots if we feel things did not work or look right. One problem that we discovered was as we were using lots of people it was hard to teach everyone the words to a level that they looked like they were singing the song or miming in their case.
Although everyone managed to learn the words for their small part that was not the end of the problem.....
When people were singing they were not always completely in time with the song therefore it did not look realistic. As this became more and more apparent as a problem we decided to start shooting people 3/4 times so we had a safety net.

Analysing a video.

This video, has inspired us to use yet another software programme in order to create authenticity to our final product. Livetype enables you to add moving text into frames and can often help portray meaning behind a certain idea or emotion. We like this video, as it visually compliments the artist and is enjoyable to watch. When viewing this video we could see that the use of writing that comments on each individual adds humour to the video, therefore we thought that adding writing to our video, the audience would feel closer to the singer as thoughts and feelings are being portrayed into words. The words will also create meaning and emphasis on the words our main singer is singing. This highlights the importance of the words shown on screen because seeing the words whilst hearing them enables the audience to access two ways in how emotion can be shown without any action taking place. The use of effects on the writing also suggests the actors and actresses demonstrating their 'obsession' with the lead singer of the band. This clearly changes when the video goes on, commenting on other peoples looks and actions with only words portraying thoughts. This links well with our video as we want to do something very similar to this with our main actor only. This means that the livetype will only be used on him to highlight the fact that he is the main singer and therefore he will have more and longer lasting shots throughout our video. The use of slow-motion editing at the beginning of the youtube video gave us an idea in using it at the end of ours. We think that this will give an interesting look for an ending to signify that the video has ended. We want our singer on the last note, to strum off the guitar and then we add the slow-motion effect ontop. The use of performance used throughout the whole video is something we want to incorporate into our own video, to highlight the fact that the male is the lead singer and that most of the attention should be on him. The youtube video also has a change in setting very frequently, this demonstrates that we also have to do the same to show the obvious conventions of a music video. The lyrics are also shown visualy through actions which highlights another common convention that we would have to undergo with our main actor.

Film changes

After the completement of the music video we decided to ask a few people to watch and give us any relevant feedback they thought was neccessary. The idea of livetype established from this task and we also had to change the consistency of the exposure and contrast throughout the video, as some parts would be brighter than others which confused others. Ideas for livetype were generated from this feedback to add a scratchy, flickering font with the lyrics appearing on screen. For example when the song goes 'I can't stop seeing your face, every place' we wanted to include 'every place' on screen, yet would come up as he would sing it, so would be 'ev-ery-place'. We also wanted to add some love hearts and question marks. A problem arised with the love hearts as they were difficult to find out how to use, as only symbols and words could be used. People also found the lip syncing out of time with the song so we went through parts and corrected the timing. With the fireworks we knew there was something missing but couldn't gather what it was. We finally came to the conclusion that we needed not only a long shot of them but also a close up to indicate the different camera shots that can add different effects. After 'I can't stop seeing your face' is sang we came up with the idea of having all the female actresses faces to come up for a short time, that would fade into each other. We thought that by being in black and white and authentic look is created and stands all the females out from the song to indicate being one of the main singers' biggest fans. Lastly, we thought that the ending was lacking something so decided on the last strum of the song that the main singer would be edited into strumming in slow motion. This created it being out of time with the song, yet made an interesting look to the song ending before the singer has finished their performance.

Filming & Production Practice Run

After the change of idea for our video, we had to quickly find actresses who were willing to mime the words to the song and were able to give us their time so we could film. The first person we filmed was Parmiss, on Barton Green. This location was chosen as it was close to our school and we had little time to film as many people as we could. We took the camera and tripod out to the green and then realised there was no battery. This again set us back even further, however we decided to try and film on a blackberry phone as we thought it may give a nice effect to the video and as we were trying to portray his fans we thought that by making some parts of the video look almost hand held it would create authenticity. After filming Parmiss, we filmed Shamaila, also using the blackberry, and changed the colour to black and white. This first filming session could be seen as a practice as we had just learnt the words and due to the lack of camera we had to make do with what was available. After filming Shamaila and Parmiss we realised that Blackberry's were not compatible with the school imacs and therefore we would face difficulties when trying to get the footage onto the programme to edit! From this filming experience we realised as always we must check the camera for battery before taking it into the field to film, and that we were lucky we were near our school as we were able to return the camera and film again with another one!

Digi pack-1st attempt

We had lots of ideas for the digi pack. We narrowed it down to a few ideas with thought best represented our artist.
The idea we finally decided i was a collauge of different peoples faces showing the different actors in our video. We began creating this idea however it was much harder then first expected. We came across a number of different problems ranging from scale and proportion to getting people faces to fit neatly together without looking funny or disfigured.

We decided to re evaluate our digi pack ideas and deicided to go down a more 'indie' looking digi pack. This digi pack was inspired by the music of the song and used natural elements such as trees and birds in its design. It has been hand drawn as we felt it gave a much more 'indie' feel. We choose only to use black, white and red as we felt simplicity was the way forward.

The drawn image on the front shows a single man walking down a path creating an image of loss and bewilderment. We feel the digi pack image is a good reflection of the song and artist.

We decided to go for a hand written style of text as it best represents our artist. Shows his male characteristics of being 'messy' and 'casual'. It also fits our artist image of leaning more towards 'indie' and 'old skool' styles to new modern approaches.

We decided hand making the digi pack would make it unique and make a more personal connection with the consumer. It would also look more personal to the artist and the way his music is represented. The hand drawn image in clear however still produces lots of unanswered questions. It is also not a direct interpretation of the lyrical content or the music video however it represents our artist and his image well. Lots of effects are now being used to cd covers however as Leo Hunter simply produces music with his single voice and a guitar we decided to take our digi pack back to 'simple' and produce a single figure with no facial detail walking down a path surrounded by trees.

Advert.

The advert we have created is for a magazine or billboard. We have used the same image as the front of the digi pack. However we have modified it slightly. We have made in more virbrant so it stands out more by adding red to the trees. The scale is also alot bigger and everything is more spaced out and clearer to see. We feel it is a strong eye catching image.

Open publication - Free publishing

CD Cover.

Open publication - Free publishing - More pack

CD design.

Open publication - Free publishing

Colour Scheme

We decided to edit the exposure, brightness and contrast of the video to allow a link to the song. This is because we made it look darker and the contrast higher to keep the actor and actresses standing out, yet their surroundings would consist of less colour, to indicate the emotions of the songs visually to compliment the generic conventions of the song.