Creative Process Pt.2

Here are 2 print screens taken during the video editing process of the animatic. In the first shot, I am adjusting the colour balance to make the picture green, as it is to represent how the lights on the Xbox will glow green in the final video.
The other picture shows how I used markers to show where the beats were in the song, as it makes cutting clips to fit better alot easier.

Finished Digipak and Advert

Here is my finished Digipak and accompanying Advert for "A Faylene Sky"'s faux album release.

I used Adobe Photoshop to edit and arrange my photos.

After the photo shoot, I decided that using a blood effect would look cheap, and not comical which was the original intended idea. However, I kept the shattered glass effect for my advert as I felt the advert needed more than just a picture of the album and text. I kept the colours plain on it so the text could still be read clearly.

More Locations for our Music Video

Although the room is need tidying up, and moving furniture around, we will use this room as the location of the band, prior to the song.

The Creative Process pt1

Here I am showing how after choosing an image to be my front cover, I applied the band logo as well as the album name.

I also added effects to the original image to increase the contrast, to help the bear mask look scarier.

Photo Shoot for Digipak

Here is a handful of the photos I took on my photo shoot in the woods. Although, the flash helped capture everything I wanted to show in the foreground.

After this, I will examine each picture and decide which I will use and where in the digipak or advert they could go.

Actors in Costume

Here are some of the actors I will use for the Video Shoot, in costume.

We specified that they all wear band t-shirts as many bands do in their videos/live performances. We also brought fake tattoo sleeves, to help them look better for the role.

I made this on Photoshop as a practise, using a tutorial on youtube.
Although I used pictures I found on Google, I will later incorporate this effect into my digipak.

Shooting Locations and Props part 2

Shooting Locations and Props

This will be one of our shooting locations, and some of the props we will use.

Digipak- Shot List

• Bear attacking the band members
• Bear Chasing the band members
• Hand in blood on the floor
• Woodland area/empty room
• Band group shot
• Close up of bear face and tee
• Shot of Bear actor holding mask and smiling

Each time I take a shot, I will take afew slight variations as back-up, incase the picture is unflattering.

Digipak- Blood Effect on Photoshop

I used this video to help learn how to use photoshop correctly, as my cover will use stylized blood for a comedic effect.

Although my final version will be my chosen shape, this practise attempt was for the blood used in the Watchmen Logo.

Digipak Cover- Ideas/Possible Costumes

My album will be named after one of A Faylene Sky's existing songs "Oh, I'll Show You A Nightmare". My current idea is using someone in a bear outfit, attacking either a Hunter, the band members or Goldilocks. I feel this idea is more entropic than a possible literal meaning of "Break Your Heart".

Bear Costume Ideas:

Logo for Digipak

Here is my logo for the band for use on the Digipak, aswell as the advert. I kept it simple so people could read it. I used a bright red to help it be eyecatching, aswell as to differentiate the two words. At first I made the "sky" white, but using both black and white text makes choosing a background that will allow both words to be read difficult. Depending on the background colour I ultimately use, the colours may change though.

Digital Technology

I failed to properly meet my targets, as out of all of them, I only tried experimenting with Adobe After Effects. That said, I'm still not confident with the program, and would need alot more practise to use the it correct.

Over the weekend, I will practise with Photoshop at home, using tutorials on sites such as Youtube to learn specific effects. Hopefully, this will give me some inspiration as well.

What Motivates you to develop specific technical skills?

I believe most skills come from the need to solve a certain problem, such as requiring a specific effect on Photoshop, or learning how to upload files to a site such as Youtube. In this day and age, it is also vital people learn how to use digital technology, especially in media related areas.

Digipak Ideas

After finding a template on Google, I then began to look for inspiration in existing digipaks, specifically the way each panel is used, and how they differentiate how normal CD cases.

Although digipaks are frequently used as special editions, the front and back cover are usually the same or similar to a CD cover. The

inside

then usually follows the pattern or

design of the front cover.

Practise Shoot

We chose to shoot a practise shoot to find out how difficult it would be. We learnt that the batteries in cameras don't last too long.

We also learnt how difficult it is to organise people at the shoot. The actors grew tired of repeating the same song but from different angles, so we may have to practise with the song with the group prior to the real shoot.

We did however find it a fun and new experience.

My Targets for Improving with Digital Technology

My three targets over this week are:

• Practise in Adobe After Effects. Learning the basics such as the timeline, and the differences between other video editing software.
• I also want to experiment more with the multitude of effects and renders in Photoshop, as I feel I know very little about bar the basics.
• Practising and trying out the different manual effects a digital video camera can do is my third target, as previously, I have just used the automatic settings.

Creativity Pt.3

About Creativity:

Sir Ken Robinson said we start as a child with creativity, as children are not scared of being wrong, they are willing to take creative risks. However, as we grow up, we become scared to be wrong, possibly due to our education system only rewarding right answers.

Overall, he said we lose creativity as we grow up.

Understanding Creativity:

Creativity comes from experiences in life, be it through day to day life, media such as films, music, magazines. It also comes from research solely for the purpose of inspiration. The way we interact with the world, and how it shapes us as a person will be reflected in the amount, or way we use creativity.

My Creative Process:

Although thinking creatively is abstract, it is clear from my animatic storyboard that my research into metal music videos has played a big part in the way each shot is used. Without researching into music videos, the animatic storyboard would have lacked the detail into specific shot types. It also would have lacked ideas, such as the use of split screens.

Creativity Pt.2

In an attempt to expand my creativity, I started making an animatic using hand drawn images and sequencing them in roughly the same way we intend to shoot our final video.

By using Sony Vegas Pro 8, I could animate these drawings a small degree, or add effects to help visualise our plan.

I would then show the video as it was made to my group for feedback, so that the storyboard reflects both people's ideas.

I added partial animation to some shots, to make the animatic more attention grabbing, and more useful as a tool to see how a final video might look.

I also edited part of our practise shoot in Adobe Premiere.

Creativity

Our idea lacked creativity, so we expanded upon it and added more creative ideas. These ideas came organically about while planned the video, such as using Guitar Hero to contrast with the seriousness of most generic metal music videos, and to make it comical.

Time Plan

This is a time plan for the weeks up until Christmas, I can add to this plan over the weeks to help me plan my time effectively.

As we are working in pairs, it is essential we share a calendar to help arrange our workload. We originally used Microsoft Outlook to share our plans, then typed these up onto Word for clarity.

Proof

Here's the permission from the band allowing us to use there song for our video.

Our Pitch

Pitch

Feedback:

Suitability of Target Audience:

• Mixed Responses
• Majority of feedback found it suitable

Comments on Originality:

• people seemed to find our idea unoriginal and with large amounts of redundancy, which to an extent it was
• we need to come up with something slightly more entropic and original for our final video

Comments on Logistics:

• people found our logistics well thought through

Comments on technical aspects:

• our feedback told us that our idea is achievable

Realism:

• people found our concepts realistic achievable and within budget

Overall:

• our ideas were found as simple and fairly unexciting
• other comments; achievable, in budget, needs more, bit more planning ideas

we need to build on our idea to make it better and deeper, we need to add more ideas and concepts to our video to make it more exciting and engaging.

we should maintain the achievable-ness of our idea but make it more ambitious

Targets:

• recreate our video as more creative and exciting
• maintain the good aspects of our ideas while improving them

History of Digipaks

Digipak was originally patented as a new style of CD or DVD packaging by AGI Media. In 2000, the digipak design was licensed out the music companies around the world.

Digipaks usually consist of a CD along with bonus material on another disc, be it unreleased material, live footage, music videos etc. Digipaks are akin to special or limited editions.

Digipaks are becoming the more environmentally friendly alternate to CDs, while still using traditional means, as in not compared to downloads. By using recycled card, as opposed to the plastic in CD cases, they have grown in popularity since the early 2000's.

Audience Recognition

I will make sure my audience can easily recognise the genre by sticking to current genre conventions. Within the metal/rock genre, these conventions generally are having the band look aggressive or powerful, use of black as a background, the image of the actual band, such as instruments, long hair etc.

Within a music video, these conventions also include low angles, rapid but well timed cuts, close ups of the lead singer(s). Shots of the band jumping around playing energeticly is also a common feature. These common features of the metal genre are a part of Andrew Goodwins theory, that every genre has its own conventions.

The target audience will easily see these conventions and know the genre instantly.

Music Video Theorists

Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin’s theory deconstructs how music video are created and given meaning. He has created a list of characteristics that separate Music Video from other media types, such as film or TV. The main point is the relationship between the music and lyrics, and the visual content of the video. The content can then fit into one of three categories. It can illustrate, amplify, or contradict the lyrics/music.

Another aspect is how each music genre usually entails different conventions for its video, as to better suit the music. However, he has said that most music videos generally include lots of close ups of the artist/band, as the record label use the artists/bands image as a way of selling their persona.

The treatment of females within music videos still projects them as objects of desire, even within music videos by female artists.

His final point is the existence of intertextual references within music videos are used to provide extra pleasure for the viewers. These references can be from a wide range of sources, such as movies, TV, popular culture, or even other music videos.

Sven E Carlsson

He has developed a way of categorizing performers within music videos into 3 different classifications. However, some music videos can cross over into more than one grouping.
The first group is called the "Commercial Exhibitionist". This aspect focuses on the performer attempting to sell them self, which includes their song, personality, lifestyle, morals within the song. It uses their persona as a way of pulling an audience in.
The second category is the "Televised Bard". It is essentially akin to an old fashioned bard, only telling a story though not only song, but the music video aswell. There are several variations on this, as sometimes, the artist merely sings the story, while in other examples, and the artist (or even the entire band) is projected into the story.
The final grouping is the "Electronic Shaman". Primarily, the focus is on the artist’s voice and music, which then combined with the music video, produces a meaning. The sound and content of the video are connected to strengthen the message within the song. The individual meanings of the music and lyrics, aswell as the video are juxtaposed to give a new meaning.

Sources:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21443985/Andrew-Goodwin-and-Laura-Mulvey-Music-Video-Feature-Notes
http://filmsound.org/what_is_music_video/

Although examples are lacking here, I will use this information in my analysis of music videos in other blog posts.

History Of Music Videos

History of music videos

View more presentations from Andy Harris.

Presentation made by me based off this source:
http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/what-is-the-history-behind-music-videos-1318869.html

Representation of Lead Singers

Here is a video made by me to help show how lead singers are presented as the main band member, which will have to follow into my video.

Extra Analysis:

Video 1:

This video uses contradicting imagery, as the song is about a “hero” appearing a saving the day, which the video features just the band playing, along with obscure images such as those in the beginning. The video also conforms to Andrew Goodwin’s theory by using multiple close ups of the lead singer, who is usually considered the main artist within the band.

While it’s difficult to suggest the imagery seen at 0:15 is an exact reference to something, the faceless nature of people wearing suits is a common one, seen in films such as the Matrix.

When applying Sven E Carlsson’s theory to this video, it mainly comes under the “Commercial Exhibitionist” grouping, as the majority of the video features the lead vocalist singing. The weirder features of the video fit into the “Electronic Shaman” category. The “suits”, for lack of a better name, are used in the video as a source of antagonism.

Video 2:

According to Andrew Goodwin’s theory, the music video would be amplifying the song content. Although rather abstract, it fits the mood and theme of the song. The video also adds a more mystical, or creepy element to the song. Again, close ups are featured predominantly through the video, as is the norm for musicians.

Aspects of the video show the band as another example of “Commercial Exhibitionists” due to the high amount of coverage the band receive throughout the video. However, the other shots lend the video aspects of a “televised Bard”, as they show a narrative, despite a very thin one.

Video 3:

The video is contradictive to the lyrics, as the song is not about sumo wrestling. However, the movements of the sumo at the start show the video is illustrative of the music accompanying the lyrics. It shows it may have been chosen as to sync up with the song, and provide a more memorable video. As with the other videos, it features a plentiful amount of close ups of the lead.

The video fits mostly with the “Commercial Exhibitionist” line of thought, as it focuses mainly on the lead singer. As the song can be interpreted as being about drugs, the sumo’s serve to create a crazier world, visually, which suits the morals of the song. The video features very little in terms of narrative, and the imagery doesn’t attempt to produce much of a meaning either.