Plumtree

Your Digipak is looking really good and you have made good use of your own images to create the album cover and poster. You have maintained continuity very effectively. Don't forget to post your animated storyboard.

Construction Progress - Video

22/11/16

Today I have started with the editing of my final video, so far uploading all of my filmed footage to the mac and pasted it into a FinalCutPro project. 

Next I will start with cutting down clips to fit them within the time frame and to fit with the audio track.


23/11/16 

I have now briefly edited together two clips with the music track, linking together the introduction, as well as the solo part.

14/12/16

I now have multiple sections of my video that are fully edited together with band performance shots. Most band footage that I have filmed is completed and edited in the right places and in time with the music. I have also layered together multiple clips in order to create cutting back and fourth between separate band members performing. This also helps for the pace of my video fit with the song, reducing some of the longer shots I had that were over 6 or 7 seconds.

CD Digipak - Construction progress

21/11/16

I have finished the front album cover for my band's digipak, and I have started and finished most construction on the contents / back of the album. I have already listed and laid out the songs included on the album, as well as giving the general layout I will use for the back page.
Next I need to finish construction of this page, most likely by implementing a similar picture for the background, then I will start on the next panes of the album.

30/11/16

The front and back covers of my CD Digipak piece are completed. Updates have been made to the back cover, which includes removing the solid brown background and replacing it with an image instead. 

CD Digipak - Album cover ideas.

I have created 4 different designs that are possible choices for my band album cover.
They each feature the same background image to use, however I have come up with different layouts and designs to position each key element for the cover.

Band Poster creation + development.

Here is a preview for the first stage of my band poster, with this being my first and initial idea on the positioning of different elements for the poster.

Construction progress

Problems encountered in filming: 

On Friday 4th November I made my first attempt at filming my music video, which would have consisted of band the performance scenes. However, I encountered a few problems on the day which made filming difficult.

The problems I encountered involve my casting, and filming locations. One member of the band I arranged couldn't make it on the day, which meant that I was not able to do shots of the full band together, so I decided to try and get medium and close up shots of the other individual members playing. I need to plan this ahead more thoroughly as each member of the band are only free on Fridays, making filming times limited to get band scenes done.  

The next problem I encountered involved the location I had planned to use, which is the School Gym, as it allows an open space to position the band in without having too large of a background. After setting up equipment and being ready for filming, the area became unavailable due to other lessons in the school. 

We moved all of the equipment to the stage in School's hall, but trying to film using the stage was difficult because of the small space. Which led to accidentally recording parts of the School hall in the background that I did not want to include. The small area also meant that space was very limited and cramped, making it difficult to film in. The stage is also not the ideal location that I have wanted and planned to use as I feel it does not suit the song or genre. To improve for this, I will need to make sure that I reserve or book the Gym space in advance so that it is definitely available for me to use. 

Dolby

Well done Jordan- lots of work here. Do a progress update every lesson for your construction with any problems you encounter and what you plan to do going forward so we can both keep track of your progress. I see that you have analysed both ancillary tasks- now try to link all the products together- video, advert and digipak- so that you have a sense of it being a promotional PACKAGE.

Casting and locations list.

Casting:

Band:  For my band, I am aiming to have musicians playing their own instruments within the band. For example, I will have actual guitarists playing the lead and rhythm guitar roles. Doing this will help to create a more realistic performance effect when showing close ups of the members, as they will actually be playing their parts and instruments, rather than miming their playing and possibly not looking realistic. 
Each member of the band I have arranged play the instruments / role they have been assigned to in real life. The only member of the band who does not play their instrument in real life is the singer, Jake. However, Jake is also a drama student at the School, so I feel that he can be a good person to use as a singer as he could be effective at lip syncing with the song lyrics.

- Singer (Also in narrative.) - Jake Taff

- Bassist - Austin Backhouse 

-Drummer - Wesley Duffy 

-Lead guitarist - Winston Alla

-Rhythm guitarist - James England 

Narrative: 

- Female character (Jane) -
- Male character (Also the singer) - Jake Taff

I am making sure that the singer of the band will also be the lead male character within the narrative to help show that the lyrics are relating to the singer and his own experience / he is singing in first person. This will lead to moments where there is also performance within the narrative clips, where the singer appears to be talking to the lead female character. 

Locations: 

The setting that I plan to use will need to fit well with the style of song I am making the video for. This will mean that darker and more eerie environments are likely to be used throughout.

I have chosen to use the School gym for my band performance scenes, this gives me a wide open space that allows me to spread out or condense the band evenly if I want to. The gym is also pale and limited in colour, so I feel it will be useful for me video, where I plan to have fairly de-saturated colours throughout.

I have then chosen to use the woods near to the School for my narrative based scenes, as the woods contains dense areas full of trees, as well as spacious areas that will allow to film establishing shots as well as more distant shots from my characters. The wooded area can also help me to create an eerie setting within my video, as I mentioned before I want to achieve this.



Below are some photos of areas that I plan to use in the woods for my narrative shots. These different areas vary in openness and space available, and I plan to use each location below for different parts of my video.
The first photo shows a long path way, enclosed by trees to the left and right sides. This is an area I am looking to use within one of the very first few narrative shots. However, this may change depending on if I feel a different location would be better for my opening / establishing shot.

Importance of audience research

Why is audience research an important part of production planning?

Why - Audience research is an important part of the production and planning of a music video because a production company and the music artist will need to know how their music video will be structured and directed in order to appeal to a certain group of people. The production company should know the preferences of the majority of their target audience so that they can plan aspects of the video that will suit common interests. 

Methods - Audience research can be done in primary or secondary forms.  Primary research involves carrying out first hand forms of research to find out almost exactly what you want to. It can include using surveys and interviews to ask exact questions that you are looking to find answers to. Secondary research involves studying previous sources to understand the target market, this can include looking at data bases or research that has been done before by similar corporations on similar target audiences. 

Information - Data gathered from Audience research can come in quantitative or qualitative forms. Quantitative data involves facts and figures, being easier data to group together and analyse as each answer will fall into a certain grouping or category. Qualitative data involves more opinion based answers on how people feel about a certain thing, this information can be more specific but is harder to group together and analyse. 

Why people choose the music they do:
People choose to listen to the music that they do because of personal interests or preferences, some people find certain themes or moods in music more appealing than others. Some people will also listen to various bands and songs based on how well they personally relate to the music and lyrics. Age and location can also impact what types of music and bands people prefer to listen to. For example, people who were born in England during the 50's and 60's would have grown up listening to more classic Rock / blues based music. Whereas people born in America during the 50's and 60's would have grown up listening to a completely different range of bands, but of a similar genre. Growing up hearing these genres can impact their opinion on the genre and bands from the time, possibly giving them stronger feelings towards Rock music than any other genre. Whereas people born in the 2000's are more likely to grow up listening to more pop music that is very big today as it is constantly played on the TV and Radio. 

Do videos make a difference to a songs success? 
Music videos can make a difference to a songs success. For example, Take on me by A-ha had an original music video that bought little success to the song or the band. Another video was made which has become the iconic one that people know about today, also bringing a lot of fame towards the song and band. 

What attracts people to videos?
On sites such as YouTube, thumbnails are seen throughout next to the name of each video available for viewing. For music videos, thumbnails are usually taken from a single frame found within the actual video.  Thumbnails can attract people to music videos as they give the audience a very brief look in what the video contains, possibly showing something that greatly interests the viewer. 

Here are some examples of thumbnails on YouTube for music videos. 
























What puts them off videos?
People can be put off of music by any themes that are used throughout the video. For example, a hip hop / rap music video can often contain sexual themes or recurring themes of women that some people may find to be disrespectful, putting them off the video. Other videos may contain graphic or distressing content that upsets viewers. 

What would people expect to see in my video?

In my music video, I feel that people would expect to see darker narrative themes that would fit with the lower tone and key of music, along with the darker style and theme of the lyrics. The genre of the band can also influence what people would expect from my music video. As the band plays the metal genre, people can expect to see a lot of performance based footage throughout the video.