Josh- Filming the band finally

I have managed to get hold of all the kit to set up a band and am going to set my garage out to look like a live venue or band practice. This will give me total control over the lighting and camera angles as I will be using my friends and have access to flood lights. I will put some pictures up of the process soon.

The Props will include:
A guitar
A bass guitar
A drum kit
A microphone
Rock and Roll clothes

We will also need to use:
Cameras
Flood lights
Music (to ensure the lyrics are in sync)

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Magazine photos edited

I have edited the images of the microphone to make them look more professional.

I varied theses effects from grainy, old rock style camera shots. I found these to be a little to gritty for the genre.

Then to quite artistic oil painting effects. This worked well, but not great in the aspect of the conventions of the genre and may alienate the audience.

I then used a brightening effect, using a gloss on the image which adds a professional feel. I will practice my layout style and then add the effects.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's New Shots

I have taken some more shots and they are much better. The lighting in these shots is much better. This creates the simple feel I was after but its not boring.




By Joshua Drake

Josh's Logo for his advert

I have edited the logo, by inverting the colours. This means I can include the logo, no matter how dark or light the image is.



By Joshua Drake

Josh's First shot at an advert

I have finished this advert and am not happy with it. I plan to take some more shots of a microphone, perhaps with the equiptment for a band, with a bit more light in the shot. I think this will make it more visually interesting.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Magazine Advert Ideas

I have taken a few pictures of a microphone to recreate my idea. I wanted to keep the advert simple and short so kept the idea of stage fright and played with the idea that 'The Amber Herd' have stage fright. I think these pictures are possibly too simple though.




By Joshua Drake

Josh's Magazine Advert

I have been coming up with ideas for a magazine advert for 'The Amber Herd' single 'Stage Fright'
I think this is really good because it's a simple design that highlights the massage of stage fright. I think it would be great to use dark reds and blacks in this advert to keep in the colour scheme that we have set up for the band.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Advert Analysis

I have analysed this advert and heave learnt a lot about the construction of magazine adverts. There are various factors I aim to recreate in my advert.



By Joshua Drake

Josh's Band Filming

Due to some confusion, we were unable to film today. The band was actually a performance, not a practice, so we couldn't have synced the lyrics of chords up with the song for the video. This would have a terrible effect on the final look for the video so we didn't film. Over the next few weeks that we have off from college, I am going to film a band I know quite well and get them to learn 'Stage Fright' as best they can. I think this will look a lot better as I will have much more control over the lighting and the band have a good 'rock and roll' image for the video.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's New Band Filming Opportunity

Due to the fact we were unable to film 'The Amber Herd' we have been in search for another band around where we live to film. Martha has set up an opportunity to film her brothers band tomorrow! We will dress them up a bit and get them to learn the basics for the song and then we can cut the band performance in with the narrative.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Inside of my DigiPak analysis

I have analysed my idea for the inside of our DigiPak. I think that this DigiPak is already great but I think there are a few altercations I would like to make. I plan to upload a revised version tomorrow and get some photos up for the DigiPak soon.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Filming Ideas

Unfortunately due to some complications we were unable to film The Amber Herd this weekend we have started to look for other possible bands we could film covering or miming to the song. This will look just as effective as long as we pay attention to detail when it comes to camera angles and lighting.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Inside of a DigiPak Ideas

My idea for the inside of my DigiPak has come from the 'Red Hot Chilli Peppers' DigiPak I've analysed and my idea for the front cover. By combining the two ideas, I have created this. I think because it carries the idea of the people missing and the theme of stage fright, throughout the DigiPak, it will work very well.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Back cover of DigiPak ideas analysed

I have analysed some of my ideas for the front of the DigiPak and decided that they would work better on the back, rather than the front. Here is an analysed picture of the two of them.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Preparation for filming the band

We are going to be filming the band tomorrow so I have been analysing some live performances to get ideas of how to film them. This performance of 'Coldplay' playing 'Scientist' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7OQSl4FdJE - I found told me a lot about how to film a live band.



(Please click on the link above to see the live performance I have analysed.)

Throughout the performance, a lot of zooming in is used to match the pace of the song, which is slow. We can do this at the start of our video, before the pace picks up. A lot of the edits throughout the video are fade cuts. I think we should experiment with this idea and see how it looks. I think it could create a nice transition from band to narrative. While the lead singer is singing there is usually a low angle close up of him singing, adding to the emotion of the video as it gives you a great look at the emotion on the singers face. The important thing for us to consider when cutting a shot of the singer into the video is that the audio matches the singer’s lips with perfect synchronization. The duration of the shot of the singer is quite long, I think with having the narrative for us to cover as well, it wouldn’t be a good idea to hold one shot for a great length of time but we can definitely experiment with this idea. Some zooms take place from quite a distance away; I think this is to show the crowd. We are filming at a band practice so we won’t be able to do this. There are also a few mid shots of the lead singer from the side that allow you to see the rest of the band. This is often combined with a two or three shot of the rest of the band, sometimes with the guitarist at the front, kind of framing the shot. Although it seems obvious, it is worth noting that the camera doesn’t focus on any band member not playing, this is because there is no point as nothing interesting is happening. We should make sure not to waste any time on mistakes like this because we also have to fit in the story of the narrative into the video. For shots of the guitarist close ups on hands playing are generally used but not so much in this video, there are also a few shots of behind the guitarist playing, this is so you can see the crowd from where he can. As I have stated, there won’t be a crowd tomorrow when we film but we can experiment with this shot as I think it looks great. For the drummer I think we can use some great close ups but from this video I noticed a lot of side shots of the drummer are used so you can see the whole band playing in time with him. I think this works really well and want to recreate this shot in our video.

By Joshua Drake

Josh's Inside of a DigiPak analysis

I have taken an idea from the inside of a 'Red Hot Chilli Peppers' that I think we can use in a very creative way. This inside is a different idea to most of the DigiPaks I have seen but I think we can use it well.



By Joshua Drake

Josh's DigiPak Cover Ideas Analysed

I have analysed some of my DigiPak cover ideas. I have only done two of the because I believe these two are better suited for the front cover and the ones of the band could go on the back. This would also represent the two sides of the video - the narrative and the band.




By Joshua Drake

Josh's DigiPak Ideas

I came up with a few ideas regarding the DigiPak. Firstly I think it's important to incorporate the theme of stage fright into the CD cover as that is the basis for the song. I have came up with a few ideas to show this. Firstly a scene that the couple have left, I think this works well but I think the next idea is even better.



This second idea is that the people themselves are absent from the picture but their clothes remain, symbolizing the concept of stage fright. This is an interesting and eye catching way. I think this is a great idea for the front cover.






These next covers are the idea of the band members being absent from stage as if they literally got stage fright. One recycles the idea of the people absent but the clothes still there. I think this works just as well as in the picture for the couple.

By Joshua Drake

Martha's final ideas

Overall I am really happy with my final design. I think they stand out on the shelf and draw in the right audience. The orange and black colour theme ties in really well to the band- linking all the way back to the 'amber' of 'The Amber Herd' and while mataining the rock convention of using black moves away from the red which is overproduced within the rock genre to give this product a unique edge. The use of Graphic Design is key to creating a unique selling point and by sticking to the idea of having a physical product within the new age of online downloads the artistic side makes it a more worth having product. You may noticed the pages are less square than you would normally expect- this is because the product would take the more modern look of having the whole front and back cover joined through using card and no border. When the front and back covers are tied together we can see a natural continuation of the image. I have tried to stop the product becoming feminine by including square shapes and rock symbol- like the tattoo like images and instruments.

Martha's CD and Third Page

Martha's Digipak Inner Page

I have used my earlier photo of leaves to trace around in photoshop and keep to the autumn theme. Sticking to orange and black and using the lyrics 'Julliet Won't Fall' ('Fall' is also a name for Autumn therefore it fits in well) also sells the music itself.

Martha''s Digipak Back Page

I've have been working on my back page. I would like for it to keep to the theme of orange and black and the modern graphics. The back and front pages should link up as a continued image, however I need to confrom to the barcode and tracklist conventions as the makes the product easy and clear to understand.

Martha's Digipak Analysis

FLUTWACHT

ABOUT THE DIGIPAK
This Digipak is bold, simple and fits the rock genre well. It is heavier than my style but I think we can take inspiration from the use of only two colours to make a really strong effect. I like the inclusion of art- although 'The Amber Herd' would probably need a more modern take on this. The use of the logo is really powerful on the front cover and although I don't see the inclusion of centered logo as the whole cover I do think we could include it somewhere on the Digipak- possibly on the CD itself.

HOW DOES THE DIGIPAK CREATE AN IMAGE FOR THE BAND?
It creates a strong image with the simple centred logo, and also uses elements of art to create an unusual and dramatic style.

GENRE
This is a german heavy rock band, it uses stereotypical rock ideas of black and red to create an almost bloody, gothic feel. As 'The Amber Herd' is not such a heavy rock band as alternatively rock our use of orange instead of red would create a less intense look.

AUDIENCE
Aimed at heavy rock fans- specifically male by the look of the blood -like glory feel. The age group would be fairly broad from around fifteen to thirty.

Martha's Front Cover Rethink

I have re-evaluated my original digipak idea; I feel the concept of the empty clothes needs changing as it is not as effective as I hoped. I would however like to keep the unusual point of not having the artist pictured, I believe that by making the cover more artistic would be more effective. Art would make the alternative elements of 'The Amber Herd' stand out more. Keeping in mind the art i started to experiment with earlier, and replacing the empty clothes with shadows this is my new concept.