Group - Digipak and Advertisement Development

Through Photoshop C53 we as a group were able to produce a set of pictures and designs which relate to our narrative. The main theme of all of them was London with pictures of various locations and monuments which shows the audience the clear location, the main character represents of touch and emotion relating to the title of the song 'At Your Touch', however the opacity of the original image on the front cover of the digipak has been reduced in which a different layer of a graveyard is visible which is an enigmatic code which also shows references to the narrative which doesn't give the plot away.

CJ - Concept Development

• With 2/3 of the footage edited and only a small scene to film, the video is coming along nicely. We aim to have the rest of the footage tomorrow, giving us a week to finish editing and sort out any problems and weak areas.
• Print work is a working progress, with the group still deciding on the final image for the digipak and advertisement. Jordan has produced a few nice pieces of print in which we will be choosing from.
• During tomorrow's shoot we want to take some stills in which we can use for the final print work. The images will show the emotion of the main character and relate to the narrative within the video.

Concept Update:

•   After reviewing the current narrative with both teachers, we have come to the conclusion that we should change the structure, however use the same footage.
• The video will be sandwiched between clips of two boys standing over the grave of a lost friend.
• The beginning scene of the graveyard will fade into a brighter scene of a sun rising. This will be a flashback of the boys, looking back on their memories they had with their lost friend.
• The majority of the narrative will be the boys in London, bowling and other locations in which they had many happy memories.
• At the end of the flashback, the boys will be in the car, where they will find out the news. 
• The flashbacks will fade back to the present tense, where the boys turn and walk away from the grave.

LF: Penshurst Cemetery Shoot



On Monday 18th November, we went to Penshurst Cemetery to film the final scene of our production. We tried to capture some out of focus shots with mise en scene including the graveyard and the gravestone of John. The included a panning shot, and mid-shot of Jordan and Connor. looking down at the grave then a handi-cam shot of the two boys walking away when it should really be a tripod shot.
We encountered a few problems when looking back at the footage.
We may need to re-shoot this scene because the fact that it is all out of focus doesn't really make sense and we cannot see any NVC of the two boys as their friend has just passed away. We also need to consider the framing of the shot, because the shot before will be john lying on his bed. so we want to incorporate his position in his bedroom, to his position in his grave. We have the friends present in the scene to give a more emotional feeling, as if they were absent it would feel like john was forgotten.

CJ - Concept Update

• With 90% of the footage been shot and the rest being done on friday, the group can concentrate on editing the beginning, part of the middle and the end, giving us enough time to make final adjustments, closer to the deadline.
• Print work is also developing nicely with each individual group member bringing ideas to the table and working with each other to finalise the designs wanted.
• We plan on gaining all footage by this week so that we have enough time to edit and make the video perfect. The group has decided to give up lunchtimes and free periods in order to devote as much time as possible to the project.
• We wish to have the final ideas for the print work by next week so that we can begin putting it together and have time to play around with it, if needed.

CJ - Shoot Reflection - Pembury

• Pembury Hospital (11.11.13, 19:30)
• Connor, Jordan, Luke and John.
• We went to the hospital to shoot the opening to our music video involving john emerging from the hospital with the news that he has cancer and must break it to his friends.
• The camera was placed inside the car and we used various angles and movements to gain footage that matched the action within the visuals.
• We found that filming at a hospital meant we had to be cautious due to strict security, and camera's not being permitted. However we gained permission from the receptionist to shoot a small piece of footage from outside the hospital pick up zone.
• The shoot went well, with the group achieving everything they intended to.



Group: Campaign - band image

• The brief was to set out and produce a music video for any genre that we chose, which included making a digipak and an advertisement post in a magazine.
• We have set out to  create  a cohesive band image to promote the album through advertising in well acclaimed music magazines such a OHM  which focuses on dance, electronic and house music which would focus on a target audience, which included a 1 page advertisement.
• By using visual motifs which link to our genre and category it reinforce the idea in which we try to portray by giving implicit references to the location (London). The leading line on the advertisement focused on London as it is such a monumental and interesting area in which there is so much depth into what the image could be.
• The digipak also has enigma codes implemented into it with the use of overlapping image including a graveyard which is an implicit reference the narrative which doesn't give the storyline away.
• The front, back and inside cover are pictures of the London skyline featuring London eye at night and Big Ben at Westminster abbey.
• Both texts link to the video through the location with particular reference to London, also the digipak titled 'At your touch' has the main characters hands together in a heart, representing a direct correlation between the two.
• In terms of Dyers theory, the star is not present and doesn't break the fourth wall which adds a sense of mystery.

Group 6 - Call sheet, risk assessment and Storyboard

•  The cemetery shoot at Penshurst entailed mainly 3 different shots, the first was an establishing shot of the graves showing the audience the purpose of the cross cut and to make sure they understand the narrative more easily.
• The second was a focus on the two friends at the grave in which they pay there respects to their friend who has now passed away due to his illness.
• Finally, a longshot of the two friends walking away which would be the the final shot and to fade out to.

JV - Digipak Development

The front cover of the digipak is two translucent images overlapping each other by altering the opacity which incorporates two images, the first one, the main characters hands in the shape of a heart which relates to the main title, 'At your touch', alongside this is a still of a graveyard which is an enigmatic code implemented into the digipak which shows the main characters fate.
As we filmed in London we are using a shot of the London eye as the inside cover which as a monumental tourist attraction, it provides enough space in which an interesting image can be used and also enough to input image, however, the picture next to it which is cut from the picture of the London eye, which the CD will be placed has enough space above it of the sky during the night in which it does not conflict with the CD.
Finally, the back cover is also another reference to London but provide place on the left hand side to coincide with Big Ben to write the song names for the album.
Through the use of research and development we have designed a digipak which is cohesive and is relatable to the narrative and the star.
The use of a visual motif of a graveyard which is an enigmatic code implemented into the digipak shows the main characters fate.
The leading line of the digipak is the heart symbol made out of the hand which provides a juxtaposition which gives the idea of story which has  a positive theme and ending to it but as you look closer the graveyard disproves that.

JV - Digipak Front Cover

The front cover of the digipak is two translucent images overlapping each other by altering the opacity which incorporates two images, the first one, the main characters hands in the shape of a heart which relates to the main title, 'At your touch', alongside this is a still of a graveyard which is an enigmatic code implemented into the digipak which shows the main characters fate.

Group: Concept Development

We have decided to change the concept of our media text. The narrative is as follows:

• Starts with John, the main character walking out of hospital and telling his friends he has cancer. This is shot in a serious of close-ups with ambient sound but no soundtrack as yet.
• Then the music 'Joe Hertz - At your Touch' slowly starts to come in with a time lapse of the sunrise.
• The boys then start there trip to London with establishing shots of the train, looking out the window, and them arriving at Charring Cross station.
• For the next couple of minutes of the song, the group of boys travel round London visiting the major landmarks and famous places. Tracking shots, POV, worms-eye, panning, mid-shots, long-shots, establishing shots and a vast amount of close-ups are used to show the boys touring the sites of London.
• Throughout the narrative, John gets flashbacks of when he was a young boy, stimulated by scenes in the present narrative, (i.e. using a toy gun, or bowling).
• Then there is a time lapse of the sunset, behind the Houses of parliament.
• The 4 boys then continue to go round London at night. A lot of, shallow, deep and pull focus is used, to capture the lighting and mise en scene of the locations.
• The text ends with John on his bed with his friends around him, then a dip to black, then a cross cut to a cemetery where his friends are in suits standing over his grave.

LF: Editing Post

We have started editing the footage. I have taken on lead editor in the group with great ideas coming in from the other members. I believe having three minds over the screen at once can improve the creativity we can achieve making the final product a lot better.

We have ordered the footage in the following way;
'A' in front of all the A grade footage we have
'F' in front of filler shots we could use
and left an 'M' in front of footage that we aren't sure on but don't want to delete.
We have not deleted any footage because you never know if you will ever need footage that you may not think is appropriate when later in time you realise you could have used.

So far, I have just entered the footage in order on the timeline, to give us an idea of the length the footage gives us. At the moment I am editing a prelude to the music video, where the main character reveals to his social group he has cancer. The music then fades in at the end of this scene.
I have also dragged the time lapses onto the timeline, and altered the 'time stretch' tool to 6000% to speed up the footage greatly.

During the next stages of editing, I want to start the footage of London where we see the group of boys travelling around the city. I want to include character exposition by introducing close ups of john nearing the end of the sequence. The continuity of the piece is vital, we have footage of the day and footage of the night, so the time lapse of the sunset will be situated between these two sections. As the track is quite fast, the cutting rate of this has to be supporting the sound, and the cuts in the sequence need to be matched with the tracks tempo and dynamics.

LF: Camera

We are using a Cannon 600D camera; 18-megapixel CMOS sensor:
 

Scene Intelligent Auto mode

Full-HD EOS Movie

On-screen Feature Guide

Up to 3.7fps continuous shooting

Wide-area 9-point AF

1,040k-dot vari-angle 7.7cm (3.0”) screen

Basic+ and Creative Filters

Built-in wireless flash control

There are different modes in which you can film. Sports mode allows you to capture movement with no blur, whereas portrait mode allows you to capture close-ups with the correct focus. Manual focus can allow you to smoothly change the focus, from deep to shallow or vice versa.  This camera helped us greatly in achieving the quality and the picture we wanted. This camera also helps us film in low key lighting conditions with out the need for flash. There is a manual control over frame rate, which could allow us to change settings to shoot in ultra-slow motion. 14-bit DIGIC 4 image processor in the heart of the camera allows colour reproduction, smooth tonal gradation and tight control over noise. Relating to our digipak and advert, an APS-C sized, 18-megapixel CMOS sensor captures images that are packed with detail and clarity. Such high-resolution allows large print sizes and the flexibility to crop pictures for alternative compositions.

CJ - Print Ideas

• These initial print ideas show the style and layout in which we wish to choose. We believe that with the genre of our track being mainstream dance, our digipak and magazine ad must be simple yet eye catching, making the use of bright colours, high contrast and bold font in order to grab the attention of readers.
• We wish to use stills of the location the video is set in to create a cohesive campaign across the artists work. This is due to London being a famous place on the map and has many monuments in which we can make use of.

CJ - Project Update

• Today we decided on the final ideas for our video, detailing everything we wanted to see within the narrative and how we were going to achieve it.
• We decided the story would about a young man's journey into the pain and fight of cancer, cherishing his last moments and reflecting on the past.
• The video includes the introduction which will be a small prelude of the character breaking the news to his friends that he has cancer. We also need to shoot the ending of the video showing the character lying on his bed reflecting on his life and coming to grips that his future is no more. After this there will be a scene of his 3 mates standing over the grave of the character, showing a sudden death of the character and ending the story once and for all.
• We plan on shooting the introduction tonight at 19:00 in the local hospital car park (Pembury). This will involve the character walking towards the car in which all his mates will be waiting in. The young man gets in, closes the door and breaks the news to his mates showing the pure shock and heartbreak between all the close friends.
• Throughout the sequence we wish to show the characters earlier life as a child, flashbacks to the times he was happy and thought he had a whole future ahead of him. By doing this we believe it will pose a stronger message to the audience, making the narrative seem more chilling and cold, reinforcing the idea that a young man's life is coming to an end.
• Print work is coming on nicely, with the group close to achieving a finished plan for the digipak and currently working on the images to match our ideas. The digipak will incorporate stills we took when shooting in London and will be layered with images of the young man's grave for the front cover.

LF: Album Cover Ideas

Group - Feedback on 1st shoot

On Monday 4/10/13, we travelled up to London in order to film our narrative. In general we got a lot of footage with varied camera shots and angles. Furthermore, as well as shooting for our narrative there are plenty of establishing shots and filler shots which will enable our video to have good length.