How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages? (question 4)

We started off using Media technologies when we were doing a range of research into music videos and genre before the whole production of our video from using the internet and different web pages. Websites like YouTube came in very useful during our planning and research as it allowed us to search different music videos, and help us plan how to create ours. We used the internet a lot during our research and planning stage as it was very useful for us to gather information. We did a lot of research and planning, from which we uploaded and posted all our ideas onto our blog. For a lot of our research/ planning, we used Google images mainly when looking for images of the bands, different costumes/props, different locations, and especially during our planning for our CD cover and Magazine design.

During the construction stage of our music video, we used a digital camera along with the tripod for shooting our video. We used many different techniques with the camera including ‘Handheld’ for a more shaky and original effect, as well as using zooms, pans and tracking shots. The tripod came in very useful when we wanted to keep the camera steady to do a perfect straight shot, however we sometimes struggled with this as it was a windy day and kept blowing the tripod.
For some areas of our filming, we used the green screen sweet. We didn’t use the actual green screen; we only used the area and the lighting. We used the spot lights to shine on Doug during the filming process to create a more ‘studio effect’ to our music video, which overall worked nicely.

For the editing process of our music video, we used editing software called ‘Final cut pro’ which is an excellent programme for editing all kinds of videos and filming. We used this on the Apple Mac computers. After uploading all our different film clips to the computer hard drove, we had multiple hours of clips to watch through, and decided which ones to use and what not to. We added the Song that we are doing to the timeline on Final cut pro, along the background. After that we re-watched the clips we had chosen to use, and decided what order and how to place them into the timeline so that the lip syncing matched and the whole video made sense. We had to use a cut tool to ‘mark in and mark out’ on the video clips to select the section of the clip we wanted, then had to drag it onto the time line into the place we wanted it. We didn’t use a whole range of effects, only ones like ‘fades, filters. Fast motion, blur and different styles.

After we had finished our blog we had to design and do research into the making of the CD cover & Advert. We did a lot of our research using ‘Google Images’ to look at other CD covers and adverts, especially ones in the same music genre that we were doing, to gain more ideas. For the construction of the Digipak, we used ‘Photoshop’ particularly on the Apple Macs as it works better on these. Photoshop was an excellent Editing Programme to use to create the CD and advert as it allows you to do almost anything editing wise to help with effects and the look of them. We had to open new pages on Photoshop, then crop the size down for the CD cover as it had to be 12’ by 12’, and had to have 4 sides, for the back, front & then two for the inside. The magazine advert just had to be A4 size and look realistic. On the advert I didn’t use a lot of effects apart from ‘Black and white’ as it looks better then it being in colour. We had to copy images from the ‘Google images’ such as the logos for HMV and PLAY.COM, and create them onto our advert in different ways. We changed the Brightness and contrast over some of the images to make them look better and eye catching. The CD case has been designed and styled to match real CD cases. It includes 4 panels, the front, back and two inside panels, along with the song list on the back, a barcode, and the ‘special thanks to’ and all other items which are included on CD covers.

Throughout the whole process of research, planning, constructing and evaluating our music video and Digipak, we used one particular useful media technology, which was the ‘Blog’. We updated all our ideas and findings to the blog along with daily entries of the editing process and any changes we had to make with filming or editing. We uploaded pictures of the computers to show what final cut pro, and the editing pictures along with images from our planning into the CD cover and magazine advert. The blog has all our ideas and different details which act as evidence and proof to show that we have done plenty of research into our music video project.

If we hadn’t of had all this different Media technologies we wouldn’t have been able to complete the music video project, or it would have been extremely difficult to do. Along with the research and creation of our Digipak. Without the use of computers and internet we wouldn’t have got all this research done, or anything done with and on the blog. Without the use of the cameras we wouldn’t of been able to film our music video which is the main task. If we didn’t had the availability to use Final cut pro we wouldn’t have been able to edit and create our music video to an excellent standard, or make or the little changes we needed. Without Photoshop we wouldn’t of been able to create and design our CD cover or Magazine advert to a high standard and with all the different tools and sections that Photoshop provides.

What have you learned from your audience feedback? (Question 3)

For my audience feedback I created four questionnaires containing 8 questions on each one and then asked four people at random if they would watch our music video and fill in the questions. From the results I got back from the questionnaires they were excellent. The first question on the questionnaire is ‘Give me three points what you like about our video’ and ¾ of the answers contained lip syncing so that seems to of been our strongest point in our music video. Another strong point from what we got back from our 4 viewers was the locations where we filmed and the settings. All viewers said they really enjoyed the places where we filmed and that the filming locations suited the genre of music. The song we used is a very soft rock song that shows emotion so we filmed most of our music video near the hills and on grass land so it gave the video a countryside look.

For everybody who watched the music video and filled in a questionnaire they all had different views on what could be improved with our music video. These things are:

• 
  
  More People


• 
  
  More Location


• 
  
  effects should be removed


• 
  
  More natural characters

We have taken these improvements into account and have looked over our video. We didn’t really want to change a lot of it as the story line wouldn’t make sense and there’s not that many locations around the Failsworth area that are quiet but we could go to different locations that are secluded and do some filming. The way we filmed everything links to the location as they are all next to each other so the characters can follow a path instead of getting random shots in different locations. We have responded to this feedback as we have removed some effects from the video like some of the blurred outlines as it makes the actual footage not go with the style of music but we have kept most of it on as we as a group think it looks good and only one person had a negative thing to say about the effects.

As a group we have all learned that we should have explored more and researched into more locations instead of just filming most of the video around one area of Manchester which is Failsworth. By doing this, this could have improved our video and gave it more exploration and the viewers would of seen the effort we put into the video. We put a lot of effort into filming the video and editing it till we thought what was the best we could get it too. We had to film parts with lip syncing again as some of us was smirking whilst we was doing it so we used the green screen room and got some really good shots, better than we had planned actually. Overall we got an excellent response from everyone who has watched our video, even off friends who didn’t fill in questionnaires and just wanted to watch the video. Also the last question of the Questionnaire is ‘what would you rate our music video out of 10’ and all of the results are high. The lowest result we got was a 7 but that’s not that bad.

Pictures Showing the Audience Questionnaires.

These are pictures we have taken to show as evidence for our 'Evaluation Question 3'.
We asked 4 people to watch and answer questions about our music video.
These are the pictures showing the questionnaires that have been completed and answered anonymously.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (Question 2)

Our music video and ancillary texts come together to make a useful and sellable product, through the use of combinations that go across from the music video to the album advert and CD digipak. The design of our digipak came from our research and also influences from our own work, as the images for our digipak are screenshots that are taken of our music video and made as a image so we were able to edit and use as a digipak design. This helps combine both products and emphasis the music video from the number one single, which is the music video we have made. They combine with each other in similar ways to some extent that the main media product being sold is the album and the band, which is emphasised through the video with constant close ups of the singer and the album and advert covers having the singer on them. This creates effective selling points for the band and the album as the constant look on the singer makes the product sell as the audiences of the band and fans of alternative rock will want to see the singer and his talents.

The use of all the media products we have used has been effective as the feedback we got was great in making an indivudal wanting to hear more songs by the band aswel, even though we have made it and not the actual band. Our intended idea was to create emotions of being happy and love to one another, thats why we chose this song. The use of images of burning and happiness helps the audience see this not just as song/album but connect to our media product through emotions of happiness and joy to the audience. In the CD digipak and advert I have kept it consitent to our music video as making changes and not relating to the video will make the album and song less able to sell, but when kept consitent the audience recognises the adverts and video to make them want to buy the album and easily find it instores. Doing this has made our products effective as one piece to able the audience to recognise an album through just as simple as a picture of the singer or a image of burning photos.

We have kept the font in both the adverts and digipak to Lucia calligraphy, as it will make it more noticable to the audience. For example seeing a font that is used constantly by an artist it becomes are realted font to the artist. So when the audiences see the Lucia calligraphy font they will see it as the Architects writing. Doing this makes it effective to be recognised by the audience and make them know what there looking to buy. Combinations of all of the media products create different effective ways to gain an audience to buying the album through the use of cross over similarites.

Overall the media products what we have created come together as one to attract the audience, from the use of noticable images that are related to the band and the fonts that are used across them. Having the singer as the main attraction of the band makes the audience want to buy their product as from our research we found that the singer is the most likeable one in the band and therefore makes most of the audience want to buy the album. Using all these is effective in creating a valuable and great way to attract an audience in selling the band and its products.

POSTED BY DOUG

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (Question 1)

In our music video of Heartburn by Architects there are similar developing/challenging ideas and conventions of real media products to be seen throughout the video. The developing ideas used in our music video is the use of splitting from two different scenes and shots throughout the video and made it into a short story. Through the video the two scenes collide with each other as the vocalist Douglas Sweeney (Sam Carter) passes and hits pass the protagonist of the short story (Thomas Walsh), with have done this to develop the research we found out in mainstream music videos of the same genre which cross between scenes throughout the video and we have made them collide together which is original and is never really seen in other media products, i.e music videos. We have used developing skills in the music video to develop the selling of the single/album and the band through the performance shots used in the video of the vocalist including shots such as close ups of lip syncing and long shots to show the style of the vocalist and his whole body to the audience.

The challenging ideas we have used that are seen in our music video is a various of risky ideas to appeal to the target audience on selling the media product of the band and the single. We shot our music video in an unusual setting to other music videos in the same genre. As songs from the alternative rock genre would set this type of rock ballad song in a setting more gritty such as an abandoned warehouse. We considered doing this but changed are idea to have it in a more nice and happier location, which is the wide open spaces of nature throughout our music video. Doing this has broadened our market to appeal to audiences much more than just the alternative rock fans, as many people like a rock ballad and setting it in a more joyful setting will appeal to more than just fans of Architects. Overall our challenge is still to promote to the fans of Architects and try to produce and wider audience, we still have stuck by the genre of alternative rock as the performance elements, camerawork and editing have been kept the same to how an alternative rock music video would look.

Our music video also takes upon conventions that are generally used in media products (Music videos), to become as great as it possibly can be given the amount of time we had to produce the music video. In the video we have made precise editing transitions and the pace of it fit to the beat of the song for example, when the beat is slow so is the pace. This is seen in mostly every music video and is a generic feature to our media product. The transitions used reflect the mood and upbeat feel to the song, as showing the visuals in relation to the lyrics of the song through editing transitions such as fade in/fade out. There are many cutaways in our music video and master shots to sell the band/Vocalist. The use of cutaways is to make the look of the music video look authentic and not boring with the same shot over and over again, with the use of the master shots of Douglas Sweeney (Sam Carter) is to keep coming back to him with close ups and him lip syncing to sell his image and he band. Overall we have used all the conventions and took them all aboard on are post-production to the viewing of the music video, to be able to make and promote the band through a regularly way of media which is the music videos seen today such as other alternative rock videos.

Posted By Doug

Our finished music video

Our video uploaded to youtube, so people can comment and share there reviews with our group.

Digipak - Back Cover

This is the back cover of our album art for The Here and Now by Architects. The main image i used for the back cover was taken at the same time we was filming the scene where Tom meets up with a new girl and then walks into the distance, we thought it would of been a good idea to use this as it links to the song Heartburn and has been edited so its very colourful which gives it a positive good effect. The two characters on the back are Tom and his new girlfriend if you look at the album from front to back it goes in order for example Doug is on the front then the lighters on the second page and then the photo burning is on the next page etc, and because its the back cover it gives a good effect that you can only see the back of the characters. On the top of the CD cover i have listed all of the tracks that are included on the album as well as a live DVD on a dark transparent background. I thought this was a good idea because the picture is good and it wouldn't of looked right if it had a black rectangle with text over it cutting off most of the picture. On the bottom of the cover I have included websites that are useful and are linked to the album like the bands official website and the record companies website which can both be used to find out information and underneath the websites is a small print which just says things about copyright and who taken the photo's for the album covers. In the bottom right corner there is both of the record company logo's and a bar code, this is just to let people who buy the album know who is responsible for making the album happen as they are very important.

Posted By Tom

Digipak - Inside The Cd Cover

Inside Front

The inside of the front cover is an information page for the album. First of all we took a photo of a flame from a lighter and added it to the right hand side of the information page. I then added a quote from the song we did which was Architects - Heartburn and its the opening line of the song where Tom burns the photo of him and his ex girlfriend. I thought this was a good idea to include as this is the main song thats focused on in the whole album and the lit flame to the right side of the page links to the quote from the song so it gives it a good effect. I included the main people who helped created the album 'The Here and Now' as they deserve credit for making the album happen. I put there names in the colour yellow so they stand out above all other text on the page so people notice and it shows that they are important. At the bottom of the page I decided to leave a message from the actual band Architects that I made myself just saying Thank you to everybody that's supported them and to everybody who was involved with the making of the album.

Inside Back

The inside of the back cover is also linked to the song heartburn and contains an image from the music video we created. I got a screenshot from our music video of the opening scene where the image is burning on the floor and added some quotes from the song. The quotes go well with the photo as it gives you the impression that Tom is saying his ex girlfriend is the mess and by burning the photo is making it beautiful, so it has a powerful meaning. I have added a outline also of where the CD is going to be. Most of the album is focused on the music video 'Heartburn' as its the main song in the album as its the number 1 single from the band so that's the main focus.

Posted By Tom

Digipak - Front Cover

This is our final front cover that i created for my Digipak. I used the green screen room in college to take the photo of Douglas that is the main picture on the front of the cd cover. We gave it that professional effect by making the room completely dark and then shining a spotlight on Douglas from an angle so the light shines up one side of his body. I edited the photo on adobe photoshop and chose the text font myself as its a similar style the actual band would use for their products. I have included the name of the album at the bottom of the cd cover on either side of Douglas and I have custom made my own sticker that says some information on it like what you would find on an actual CD cover. The only inspiration I had for making this CD cover was the fact that the band Architects use a very similar font style to the one I have used.

Posted By Tom

Narrative analysis of our music video

In our music video the narrative is mainly linear and has some shots where it is seen as not a linear narrative. As our video is telling a short story of a boy who gets over his ex-girlfriend and starts all over again by helping people and getting a new girlfriend, whilst hitting passed the vocalist of the band. The shots of the story are mainly seen in the video but it also has cutaways to scenery around them and also cutting to shots of the vocalist lip syncing the song in a studio. So parts are seen as a linear narrative telling a story of the a boy, but looking over our video we decided is wasn’t a linear narrative as it doesn’t stay in one straight story line as it cuts from shots of the singer and the male protagonist. We concluded this by watching videos that were linear narrative and compared them to our video and we seen a big difference in between them as the linear narrative videos had no cuts to a singer or band just a simple small story with the song playing over the shots. These images show the story in brief:

We also found through that research that our music video does have a conventional narrative, for such it having a beginning middle and end. As we see Tom get over his ex-girlfriend by burning her picture and then slowly walking towards a new girl as he helps others on the way, coming to an end where he meets her and holds her hand walking away from the camera. Towards the end of our video we use the same shot of the burning photo from the beginning to emphasise him getting over a girl and starting with a new one. Overall the narrative in our video is a convention of a music video having a beginning, middle and end with is experimental sides of finishing with the beginning shot used in the video, which makes our video be seen as a real video which would be seen on tv or the internet by the fans of alternative rock.

POSTED BY DOUG

How mise en scene and performance contribute to representations in our music video

In our music video there are several representations to such thing as the alternative rock genre or how the singer is shown to the audience. The mise en scene throughout the video shows the representation of the song choice but not the genre of the band (alternative rock). As the song is a rock love/ballad song and the locations and the look of the video throughout the video shows a representation of a typical song which is a rock ballad. As the locations are set in wide open spaces in nature as the singer performs, the shots are edited to look much brighter then original shot to represent the song as a happy and joyful loving song and not just a rock song. The only representation shown in our video through mise en scene to show the alternative rock genre is the master shot where it cuts back to the studio where the singer is lip syncing the song which is seen in other videos with the same genre. As the singer is shown as the only image and performs in a way that is stereotypical of the genre, e.g. head banging. Overall the mise en scene is represented as a rock ballad but has elements of the genre we have chosen.



The performance side of our video shows the genre much clearer, as Douglas Sweeney the vocalist of the band shows stereotypical characteristics of a vocalist in the alternative rock genre. This is shown throughout the video as he over exaggerates his actions and emphasises them to get across the point and meaning of the song/lyrics. As the lyrics “Hold out your hands and lean upon me” are seen as him putting his arms out towards the camera to pull in the audience, which is seen in other videos of the same genre. The use of doing actions that are stereotypical of the genre will attract the audience much more than just simply lip syncing, as we made Douglas Sweeny head bang as that is what’s seen in modern society of music videos in alternative rock genre. Overall the performance in our music video is well thought out to able ourselves to sell the media product to the intended audience and make it seem real as an alternative rock music video through the performance.

The representations of males and females are also contributed by the use of mise en scene and performance. As the costume what the female in our video is wearing (Alex), is very stereotypical of the gender when the weather is cold. Where she is wearing stylish clothes that are practical to keep her warm and look reasonable as a pretty female, with the performance of Alex helping her aswel as she acts feminine and shy when Tom arrives. The vocalist is seen as a strong male by his facial expressions and the fact he is fighting the wind and cold in just a long shirt and jeans through the performance represents him as a strong male. The male protagonist (Tom) is seen as a sensitive male as he breaks up from his girlfriend and walks alone through the streets of failsworth. The costume he is wearing also shows his sensitive side of a male, as he is wrapped up warm in complaisant to the singer having minimal clothes on in such cold weather. Overall the female and males are represented as stereotypes seen in modern society, having a strong male and a feminine girl through the use of the mise en scene in the video and the performance elements from the actors in the video.

POSTED BY DOUG

Pictures.

These are a few of the pictures we took in the studio to find the perfect ones to use for the Magazine advert & CD Design pack. We took pictures from different angles, from side on views, to full on front views to try and find which style we liked. We used the black wall on some of our images, and had the lights off and used some of the spotlights. We aimed them at dougs face to create a shadow effect and to have a nice light effect over his face. We thinks this looked more like studio images which is the effect we wanted.

Posted by, Bethany.

Updated and final version of our Magazine design.

Final Design

After doing more research into different styles and designs of magazine adverts, I had different and new ideas in my head & re-started the advert.
I opened a new Photoshop page and added a main Photo of Doug, who is the lead singer in our music video. I inserted this in the middle as it will become the main focus point of the advert, and will catch the audience’s attention.
I made the background of the image black, so that and the image black and white, so it flows more and looks better.I typed the Bands name ‘ARCTITECHS’ along the top on the page in bold white writing so it stands out. I used ‘Charlemagne std’ font as I felt it looked better and matched the whole style of the band instead of using a plain font or something, and made the advert more eye catching.
I included the ‘HMV’ & ‘PLAY.COM’ logo, only small images, along the bottom, for advertisement, and to show where the Album is available to buy from. It also makes the advert look more real & authentic.

We had the idea to include a rating from a magazine. We decided on ‘Kerrang’ as this is the magazine which advertises and contains a lot about music in the same genre to the ‘Architects’ and is a magazine that would have this type of advert inside. I think the Final draft of the Magazine advert looks very realistic and done well. It matches the band, and will go well with the album design and the music video. I think the yellow stars stand out nicely on the black background, underneath the image, and just make the image attract more attention.
I used''5/5'' as it adds to the advertisment of the band and album, and is quite a realistic number compared to if it would of been ''10/10''.

I decided to write 'Featuring the No.1 Single 'Heartburn' at the side as that is the song we used for our music video, therefore it is quite imnportant, and one of the main things we have and needed to advertise. I have used the same font throughout 'Charlemagne std’ so that the advert flows together without having lots of different fonts being used. I feel it fits is nicely.

I only added the main details to the advert as i didnt want to have too much going on with it, i just wanted it to be simple, to the point, but to look eye catching and good. The black and white over the advert has a better effect compared to if it would of been in colour. It allows the pink 'HMV' logo & the yellow stars to stand out more, and grab the attention of the advert audience.


Posted by, Bethany.

first design, old draft of magazine advert.

This is my first attempt and draft of our albums magazine design. I included the name of the band at the top in bold white writing so it stands out to the audience, along with the style of the writing matching the theme and style of the band. I included things such as, ‘HMV’, PLAY.COM’ & the ITUNES logo to make it look more real and official, and also to advertise and show were the bands fans and audience are able to buy the album from.

However after looking closely at my draft design I decided I didn’t like it, and it wasn’t that good. I had a look at more research into magazine adverts and decided to re-do the design and make it much better.I opened a new Photoshop document and re-design the whole advert until I was happy with the final piece.


Posted by, Bethany.

Analysis of our music video using Goodwin's theory

1. In our music video it shows clear genre characteristics to the alternative rock genre, as the performance done by Douglas is similar to other typical music videos that are in the alternative genre. As Douglas uses gestures and actions that are used in the alternative genre, for example head banging and over expressing lyrics.

2. The music video also follows the idea that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals. In parts there is the relationship for lyrics and visuals as the visuals emphasis the lyrics through the way of the visuals. The lyrics in the song are symbolized with the performance in the video, for example the lyrics “I’ll be the one to make you smile” as the lyrics are sung the video is on a close up of a homeless person smiling. This shows a clear relationship between the lyrics and visuals in a simplistic way.

3. Goodwin’s idea that the relationship between the music and visuals is shown in our music video in some ways. As the song is slow and downbeat, the clips are longer and cut at a slower rate to follow the beat of the music and make a relationship between the visuals and the music. During the chorus and the fast upbeat parts of the song the cutting rate is increased to follow the visuals connecting to the song.

4. The idea of the demand on the band having many close ups in the video to promote them is not seen so much in our video, but the artist has there own motif/performance style. In our video we have only a few close ups, but still a reasonable amount to promote the band. Our main concern to the demand of the label is the style the lead singer has as he always expresses lyrics through his face and hands in a way that alternative rock audiences will appeal too. As Douglas (the lead singer) uses his hands to show and emphasis the lyrics that are important and meaningful in the music video, for example the lyrics “Hold out your hands and lean upon me” Douglas reaches his hands towards the camera and puts his hands to his chest, which makes the importance of the lyrics show to the audience more easier. This idea is shown throughout the video when the video is on the artist and not the actor.

5. The only idea that is not shown across in our music video is that frequent reference to the notion of looking, i.e. screens within screens or telescopes. We have not included this as we have aimed to make it a narrative and performance video, to show the audience the skills of the artist and how the lyrics make a short story. The only shot, which slightly shows the sense of looking, is the replicated shots showing two screens that show the same shot. The treatment of particularly voyeuristic of the female body is also not shown in our video. This is only because the alternative rock genre never has this in there music videos as our research had found out, so we decided not to do this in our video and kept the females mature.

6. Goodwin’s final idea that there is often intertextual reference to films, other music vides and T.V programmes are not shown in our music video at all. We have done this on purpose, for the reason that we wanted to make our video original and creative from our own imaginations. Not following this idea turned out to make our video to be original and overall made it come to life.

Analysis of Linkin Parks album advert

The main feature to Linkin Park’s album advert is the use of the album cover being the main visual seen in the advert as it takes up half the advert. The helpful use for this is to show the audience what the album looks like and it also shows the track list of the album, which will encourage more people to buy the album from the songs they may know on the album already. This feature is similar to many other album adverts with no differences between the genres in the sense of selling the album from the look of the album itself. The writing used in the album advert shows the typical stereotype for the genre what Linkin Park are which is rap/nu-metal, which appeals to the target audience which is the fans of the band. This helps sell the album to the audience from the use of recognizing the fonts used for the band and that the fans will notice that and I want to look at the advert and eventually buying the album. The white font at the bottom left side of the advert shows what is included in the album which helps sell the media product to the audience as the special features in the album such as a short film about the band and exclusive web based media products that relate to the band. This helps appeal to the fans as people would love to see a live video of the band and will make you buy this product. The advert does not tell us the release date, which is a down side to the advert as people May not by it as they don’t know when it is out or where to buy it from. Overall the poster is appealing to the fans of the band and of nu-metal as the look and style of the advert attracts them, but only appeal to that certain audience which may gain a high selling media product.

POSTED BY DOUG

Analysis of All Time Low album advert

The main feature to this album advert is the use of the comic style of the background picture used. As it is similar to the actual album cover itself and the use of putting their name in with the picture is key to help sell them and their album through this advert. The background image will appeal to the target audience attended to (the fans), as the writing and look of the picture is pop-punk rock and the fans of that genre will see this and know what genre the music is and maybe make them want to buy the album. The writing at the top of the advert is in large font and black over the yellow background to emphasis the name of the band and the name of the album to the audience. Doing this on an album advert helps catch an audiences eye to look what the writing is and then knowing what it says making them realise that a new album is out by the band All Time Low. The writing and font on the centre right of the advert is also in black and is singificant as it stands out over the yellow background and shows the audience the reviews the album has got of the magaizines that are viewed by fans of the pop-punk rock genre. The reviews help alot in this advert as it shows another view on the album and if they do have good reviews the audience will be more persauded into buying the album. The font at the bottom centre of the advert is also in black to be more visible to the audience as it has a important role on selling the album. The writing has the realease date of the album and the bonuses you have when buying the album in smaller print below the realease date. The release date is most significant in advertising the album as the audience will know the realease date and then waiting in anticaption to that date to by the album. The use of the small print below the release date is to show the bonuses on the album which is extra tracks and a live dvd inside. This helps advertising as the album has alot more inside than other albums out, with an important advertising dvd in the album of the band playing live which will appeal to the fans of All Time Low. Overall the album advert is very impressive in advertising the album, as many features come together to make a eye catching advert that looks appealing to the intended audience and makes a clear understanding of what is expected in the album, this will help with the sales of the album.

POSTED BY DOUG

Research into Filming Locations

Daisy Nook Country Park

Daisy Nook country park is located in Failsworth which is in Manchester. It contains a small lake that runs through the park and contains several other little lakes. It is popular for people who enjoy walks when it’s nice weather. It is quiet most of the time and has nice scenery such as tree’s and wide open spaces and I good view of the sky as its kept well tidy. We chose to film the opening scene here where Tom burns the picture of his ex-girlfriend and walks away because the location is secluded and is perfect for the opening scene. The bench on the picture above is the same bench that Tom sat on and burnt the picture at the beginning of the music video, so you can see for yourself how the location looks good and is also secluded. We shot about 3 clips in Daisy Nook which are clips of Tom burning the picture and then exiting the country park. We decided to have Tom start here as it brings emotion to the music video as he’s came to a quiet location to think about things and then burns the picture of his recent girlfriend.

Failsworth Road

Failsworth Road is a quiet road located close to Daisy Nook. On the left side of the road is a footpath but on the right side of the road there is a large field where several horses are usually located as its part of a farm. The picture to left is a shot of Failsworth road, we was originally going to film Douglas performing walking down this road but we decided to change as we found a path that was more secluded to film those shots. Instead we decided to film Tom walking down the road on the right hand side and luckily there was some horses there so we filmed Tom stroking the horses as Tom has a good vibe throughout the video helping people and having a good moodas he’s over his ex-girlfriend. We thought it would be good to film here and think it’s appropriate as it’s hardly ever busy and is very close to Daisy Nook Country Park so it also links with where Toms walking as it’s not a completely different location.

The picture on the right is also on Failsworth road but it is at the beginning of the road just as it starts. We shot the scene where Tom meets a new girl he likes and walks off with her in the distance holding hands. We thought this spot would be good to film this scene as it’s a good meeting point. The way how there’s a single bench next to some steps covered in leaves on a small area of grass, it looks like the perfect place to meet somebody and it’s what we planned since we started the planning of our music video.

Secluded Path

This is the path where we chose to film Douglas Jonathon Anthony Sweeney lip syncing the lyrics of the song Heartburn by Architects. This path is located in Failsworth quite close to daisy nook. We chose this spot to film as we wanted to film on a secluded path and we stumbled across this path when we was on the way to film on the original place Failsworth Road. It’s appropriate for Doug’s scenes as the path is even more secluded than we originally planned and at the end of the path as you can see in the picture there is a nice view of the countryside which we also took advantage of and got some shots of Douglas sat on the metal fence. We also got some landscape shots over the fence of the countryside and we also got some shots to the left of the path as there is a little lake there as it’s also part of a farm.



Public Street and Meeting Point

both of these locations are next to each other so we filmed from one location to another with the story. The picture on the left is where we filmed the clip with Sam (The Homeless Man) where Tom gives him money and continues his journey to meet the girl he likes. We chose to film here as it’s in the area Failsworth where we have been filming the rest of the music video and it’s a public street right next to a restaurant. We originally planned to film the scene further down, actually in front of the restaurant but a crime had occurred so we got asked to move. The road links to where the characters are travelling as it’s around the corner from daisy nook and the secluded path. The picture on the right is the meeting point where Tom and Doug both collide with each other. We thought this would be a good idea to do as the performer and the actor both walk past each other so the audience know they’re in the same location. We chose to film on a motorway bridge as it’s secluded and has nice viewpoints of the landscape of where we are filming. It also shows clearly that Tom and Doug are both walking in different directions.

POSTED BY TOM

Current Magazine design idea's.

Idea’s for magazine advert.

The ideas we have for our Magazine advert design are either; a picture of Doug as he is the lead singer, a picture of a burning photograph that features in the video or an image of Tom and Doug as these are the main features of the video. We are still in the planning process and still research ideas of what image to have and how to lay it out.The advert will be A4 size, to make other adverts and will be in colours such as blue, grey, green, black or something along these lines as it will be quite dull as it matches the theme and the style the original band use, yet we will make it eye catching and interesting. It will be advertising the song ‘Heartburn’ therefore it will contain details about the record, its release date, producers, and a ‘barcode’ along the bottom as it makes it more authentic and like an original magazine advert. We are going to create the design using Photoshop, as this is one of the best programs for editing and creating images and items. Photoshop allows you to do almost anything to an image and edit it to a very high standard. It will help us to make our advert look very realistic and exciting.


Similar Genre Magazine adverts:






Posted by, Bethany.

Finished Video, the process so far.

We have finished the editing for our music video now and it is all complete. During the editing process we had to go into the studio and do some re-filming as we decided to include a ‘Master Shot’ into a video, so we had a scene to keep going back to. This idea was given to us after our teacher had watched the video so far and decided it needed something else adding to it. We played the song and just filmed Doug singing the whole song from different angles and in different positions. We tried different things like filming his shadow for a new effect and to make it a bit more interesting, and we think it works in the video. We put the master shot into our video and kept referring back to it after different scenes. It looks more like a music video that has been performed in a studio. Doug was the main person to do the editing, so he put in the different effects and styles to the video which work really well and helps the video to look better but not to over edited or anything. On the last day of editing we all watched the video numerous times to check the lip syncing was right and in time, and to see what our thoughts were with the final edit. We were happy with it, and felt it worked well with all the scenes; the lip syncing isn’t great but with the master shot it looks good.
We are currently discussing ideas of what images to have as the CD cover and Magazine advert, and how to do the layout for them. Beth and Tom are going to be doing the CD cover and advert using Photoshop. We are splitting the Music video evaluation questions between the three of us, and the rest of the blog work. We are going to create a questionnaire and ask a selection of people to view our video and note down their thoughts and answer the questionnaire. We will upload a copy of the questions to the blog, along with a section on people’s answers and view’s about our video.


Posted by, Bethany.

Costume research

Douglas’ costume

The Costume is researched thoroughly as the forecast for the weather will be cold with a chance of snow. The long sleeve to will be used as the top is a merchandised top for the band Architects, to go with the genre. Skinny jeans are typical of the genre aswel, as the band usually all wea them in videos or even live shows.

Thomas’ costume

Tom’s costume will be similar to Douglas’. He will be wearing skinny jeans to follow the stereotypical look of a person who plays or listens to the alternative rock genre. There will be rain on our filming days so Thomas will also be wearing a wooly hat and a thick water proof coat for the conditions that there will be rain.

Homeless mans costume

The homeless person will be dressed for the weather aswel. He will be wearing a coat which looks ragged and worn out with cup to put his change in from Tom this emphasizes that he is homeless and has to cope in these conditions. The homeless male will also be wearing a hat. His pants will be joggers will also look worn out.

Lover girl costume

The costume will be appropriate to the weather and to fit a female style of the genre. She will have a warm padded red coat and denim shorts with leggins considering the weather that day. She will also be female winter gloves which allows follows the weather on the day.

POSTED BY DOUG

Images of the Editing process.

Posted by, Bethany.

Our inspirations for our music video

Our main inspirations for the narrative and performance within our music video came from listening to the lyrics and trying to base our video around the lyrics and what they say.
We watched the official video for the song and had a discussion to discuss our ideas and thoughts about what the narrative could be. We decided that as the song is quite dull and has a kind of depressing mood to it, we couldn’t do anything really upbeat and really happy and crazy, as it wouldn’t match the theme of the song therefore this affected the type of narrative we decided to do. Throughout the song we decided to have Tom walking and helping people such as a homeless man by giving him change and stroking a horse. This is because we wanted the narrative to be helping people and making people smile and things, as this is mentioned throughout the lyrics of the song.

We didn’t get any inspirations from any TV programs or anything like that; it was all from listening to the lyrics and trying to come up with our own ideas.
We decided that the end of the song had kind of a ‘happy ending’ to it. This is why we had Tom meeting a girl at the end of the video as it shows the audience it is a happy ending and lightens the mood. We decided to film the whole song in the green screen also so then we have a Master shot to refer back to throughout of video, and so it looks like Doug is actually performing in a studio. We filmed Doug as the performance aspect of the music video and had his singing the song in different locations either stood still or walking and singing. We filmed Tom as the narrative and storyline of the music video walking through different locations and doing different things along the way until he meets the girl at the end.

We didn’t have any particular costume ideas for our video. It’s just a simple video that doesn’t need any specific major costumes or props to go with it.
As the music genre for our video is ‘Alternative rock or indie’ we just carried the same dress sense as most other artist’s in this similar genre. The dress code we used was skinny jeans, jumpers and everyday shoes. It was cold on the days when we were filming so Tom was wearing his hat but it fits in with the dress code. The only major prop in our music video was the burning photograph at the start of it which was an image of Tom and another girl which we have the camera focused on for the beginning of our video. Another specific prop we used was a clock, where we moved the hands round really fast to match the lyrics of 'time standing still forever' it was kind of a juxtaposition. There was no other major props throughout our music video that we needed, everything else we just decided on the day of filming or picked up as we were.

We came up with ideas on what locations to use came from researching local areas which are quiet and empty as this is what the locations used in the original music video were like. We decided on using an area in Failsworth called ‘Woodhouse’s’ as it is a nice, quiet area and were perfect for our filming. There weren’t many people in this area so our filming didn’t get interrupted and we were able to film a lot in a few hours. We were originally going to go to an area called ‘Daisy nook’ however we didn’t need to as when we were walking around Woodlouses we found plenty of areas to film our video so we didn’t need to go there.

Posted by, Bethany.

Cd Cover Analysis of All Killer No Filler by Sum 41

Front

The front cover of this album looks very low budget and easy to make. It includes all 4 members of the band Sum 41 Deryck, Jason, Steve and David on the front cover pulling funny faces. They’ve just opened their mouths and shook their heads from left to right very fast resulting in air catching in their mouths making them puff out the way they do in the pictures . This band also has sense of humour and is looked up to by a lot of teenagers who come from the punk scene. The pictures aren’t exactly high quality but they do look funny and the band has done this to show their sense of humour. The look of the album cover has a tiled effect like how the pictures are in 16 squares that fill up the whole front and then in the American colour scheme Red, White and Blue is the band Logo and album name. The band logo stands out from everything else on the page due to its bright colours and this is supposed to stand out so people who like the band know it’s their album. The name of the album also stands out but not as much as it’s in a red font on a strip in-between a line of photo’s but is easy readable. The album came out in 2001 so that can explain as to why the picture quality isn’t that good but I think the band actually wanted this look as it gives it a vintage polaroid effect.

Inside Front

Inside of the front cover looks almost identical to the front cover but without the band name and logo. It has the same tile Polaroid effect as the front cover but it’s different and has a meaning. They’ve done the exact same thing as the front cover only this time the people that are shown doing the puffed out face are the producers of the album and some friends of the band. The band has done this because it’s a way to say thank you and they’ve decided to include photos of them inside the case to show you who the people are who helped them produce a very successful album. Also they’ve made them do the funny faces just for comedy as its funny seeing photos of the producers and friends of the band who are never usually seen by millions of people unlike the band. So the inside of the front cover is important as it shows you the key people who helped and support Sum 41 to make this album.

Inside Back

The inside of the back cover of the album is extremely important. At the top it has the bands logo the exact same one we see on the front of the album and once again it stands out the most on this page over everything else. This page is also a way of saying thanks but it also tells you a lot of information. Under the Sum 41 logo there is the nicknames of the band members in large white bold writing and the positions they play in the band in the same red font from the front cover next to them. These stand out over all over text on the page apart from the logo as their important. Other information on the page includes the producers of the album and basically everybody who had some input in helping with the album getting made. Towards the bottom of the page there is a huge list of names and just above the names there is a title saying ‘Thanks’ so they are all the names the band would like to thank so this could be close friends and people who have had an impact on them whilst making the album. Inside the cd case on both sides are thank you pages which was nice of the band to do, because they’re trying to get across that they don’t deserve all the credit just because they produce the music.

Back

The back of this CD case makes a change from the rest of the CD Case. The rest of the case contains dark colours such as the front cover except the band logo and on the inside of the case it uses the colour black a lot. In this shot of the band it’s quite colourful, the way how the band have got a photo lounging around in a room in front of some bright multi coloured floral wallpaper. I think the band have done this, so it purposely stands out from the rest of the case and so you can see clearly who the band members are without them pulling any funny faces. There are cans of beer in the middle of the photo and if you look at the band members them all seem to look rough so this photo could represent that they’ve been partying and are all hung-over. At the top of the back cover it has a black background with the names of the songs in a white font with red numbering. This is again sticking to the colour scheme of the rest of the Cd Cover. In large bold red letters underneath the track list it contains who it was produced by and has the bands website and the record company’s website. Both of these things are important as it tells you the name of the person who actually produced the album and the websites can be used to access further information about the band and album. Also in the bottom right corner which is difficult to see, but it also contains the bands record companies logo which is island records and it’s a small white palm tree on a black background.

Posted by Tom