Digipak Cover(s)

On our original night of filming (02/01/11) - we took a number of potential covers for our digipak along with our previously provided production stills. We chose the particular alleyway due to the effective lighting and the environment it provided for our images. Though we have selected our cover, we are still debating between a potential two back covers. They are essentially the same shot, the main difference really being that one of them has Josh's character in focus and the other partially blurred, with the view to accentuating the character's insignificance within his surrounding. Included is the front cover as well as the two potential backs.

FRONT:


BACK:


It is likely that over the coming days we will ask around and find a general consensus as to the better suited back cover. The cover that isn't selected may instead be used for the CD's booklet.

Filming

Earlier in our blog we had decided to film on Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st, Wednesday 22nd. However, before these dates we found out we would not be able to film in front of the cinema because of scaffolding, so we postponed filming until after Christmas so we could find a new starting location. On Monday 2nd we filmed the middle section of our music video which took longer than expected due to the amount of takes we had to do. We also took pictures for our digipack which altogether went very well. The next day we filmed the beginning of the video in our new location on one of the lower side streets down Abbeygate Street. We also managed to film the end of the video which we were very happy with.

These are some of the pictures we took during filming.

When we are planning to film

We are hopefully going to film the first week of the holidays, this being Monday 20th, Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd. We have booked the video camera for the whole of the holidays so if we are somehow unable to film on these dates, our plan will be to film after the new year just before our deadline of Tuesday 4th January. This deadline is for all completed filming. When we are filming, we will have one of us taking extra footage and pictures with another camera.

Ancillary Task: ideas

Because we have basically finished planning our video we thought it best to start planning our digipack and webpage for our music video. As you can see, these are some early ideas for what we would like to include in our webpage and digipack. By doing the research tasks on digipacks and webpages we have a good understanding of what should and should not be included in ours.

Most digipacks have a running theme through them for instance the layout, the picture, the font etc. For ours, we want the main cover to be of the man standing in front of the cinema with the band name and the title of the song where the name of the film is.

For our webpage we want a clear, simple layout which includes links to other areas of the site as well as videos and the band's latest news. On the front page we would like the music video created as well as tour dates and links to facebook and myspace to keep it modern and to access it a variety of different ways.

Self Evaluation

This is our self evaluation which we were asked to carry out in our groups. This is so we can get an understanding of where we are in our planning and how we can improve as a group.

Level 3

Shotlists, layouts, drafting, storyboarding - This is because we have not yet posted the shotlists yet however they are complete.
Time Management - This could have been better because we spent a long time thinking of the song we would like to do.

Level 4

Research - Our research is excellent because we have done good, precise audience research as well as looking into webpages and digipacks.
Organisation of actors, locations, costumes/props - We have made a list of all these.
Presentation - Our blog looks very professional because it is well made and it shows off our IT skills by embedding videos.

Overall our group feels its at a high level 3 because there are some things we could have done better for example time management and storyboarding.

Audience Research - What we have found out

Our audience research has given us the ability to draw on what they have said to get some more ideas for our video. We asked 10 people who were mostly our age with an even split of males and females even though our target audience is male we wanted to get female thoughts on music videos. What they have said has given us some good ideas with most of them preferring a narrative for a music video. More people answered 'lyrically relevant' to the question 'Which kind of music video do you prefer?'. 60% of people answered slower/calm for the question 'Do you prefer music videos that are lyrically relevant or that are abstract?'.

Some of their favourite videos were narrative e.g The Script - Breakeven and Enrique Iglesias - Hero, which was the most popular form of music video. However most of the music videos suggested were either performance or unique concept e.g Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars, A-ha - Take on me and Bruno Mars - Just the way you are.





Some of the least favourite music videos were because they didn't like the artist or it didn't make sense e.g Jay Z - 99 Problems and Eric Prydz - Call on me. We can't exactly make sure our audience won't like our singer however we can make sure our video does make sense and it relates to the lyrics.



From doing this questionnaire we have taken on board that our video needs to make sense, relate to the lyrics in some way, a story/performance of some sort, something unique and just keep the audience's attention throughout.

Audience Research

These are our results from our questionnaire. Our target audience is male and aged 16-19 so we felt it would be better to ask people who were this age, even though we asked some older people, so we could get an understanding of our target audience and what they want in a music video.

How old are you?
16-19 - 8
20-26 - 2

Gender?
Male - 5
Female - 5

What is your favourite type of music video?
Narrative - 5
Parody/pastiche - 0
Unique concept - 4
Performance - 1

Do you prefer music videos that are lyrically relevant or that are abstract?
Lyrically relevant - 6
Abstract - 4

What kind of music video do you prefer?
Slower/calm - 6
Fast/energetic - 4

What aspects of music videos that you like do you feel make it interesting to watch?
Artist
Something to stimulate the mind
Good story to capture the audience
Singer
A story that fits with the lyrics
Showing the artist
A story to follow
Random imagery that doesn't make sense
Colourful
A unique style

What is your favourite music video?
Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
Bruno Mars - Just the way you are
Robbie Williams & Gary Barlow - Shame
Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars
Michael Bublé - Hollywood
Pendulum - Slam
Enrigue Iglesias - Hero
The Script - Breakeven
A-ha - Take on me
Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity