NEW SCRUFFY DRAWING

I have decided to make a new scruffy drawing due to the other one not fitting in with the shot of the girl. I want this image to fade into the girl singing, which means that it has to be from the same shot. I do not like this scruffy drawing as much, and I do prefer the previous one due to the detail on the face, but this image did not have much detail as a torch was shone on the face. However, weather it is successful or not will be seen when it all gets animated. I cannot do the animation just yet as I do not have Final Cut Pro at home.

BATH AND BROKEN MIRROR SCENES

Whilst filming in the bath tub I have found it very challenging. This is because I cannot hold my breath underwater, when my whole plan was to go under water.  I believe that even though it was very challenging I have managed to get me being under water for a few seconds. However, as one of my shots was to gasp for air I have breathed in a lot of water at the back of my throat and nearly chocked. But apart from that i did manage to get a few good shots.

 Walking on the broken mirror was much more successful and easier than going under water. I did not get hurt and the torch affect looked very good. This I would could successful, no doubt. However, I did have some difficulties as my kitten kept running on the mirror and kept sliding on it causing it to go all over my room. This problem was solved by shutting the door.

DIGI PAC RE-TOUCHES

As one of my teachers has said that my digipac feels too empty inside I have decided to add a sleeve to the middle which includes a little booklet. This booklet should include lyrics inside it, if this was a real digipac. For now I have made a plain one. I believe that the digipac has worked much better before, not only for looks but it does not shut properly anymore. I have decided to take this sleeve out and stay with my previous idea. Even though it did not work I am pleased that I did some experimenting with the feedback that I've got, as it has allowed me to think for myself as well as see whether different ideas appeal better to my work.  

RE-SHOOTING Production schedule

I would like to do my re-shooting as soon as possible, just so it is out the way. I plan to shoot both of my new ideas on the same day as my look will be complete and that will get it out the way even quicker.

DATE: 14/12/2011  

LOCATION: My house

TIME: 17:00pm - 18:00pm

PROPS: make-up/a white dress/flip camera/white wall/torch/bath tub

CAST: Me as the artist,an extra person to film me, a person to shine the torch.

NEW IDEAS FOR IMPROVEMENT

As I have agreed to filming some more footage for my music video I need new, greater ideas. It is not very easy to think of new ideas as I have used many interesting ideas for my video. As, I have showed my music video to my friends one of them has suggested to look at bath scenes from Leona Lewis and Avril Lavigne music videos. This is because they are suicidal. At first I did not understand how a bath scene could relate to my music video but as I have watched these videos I have found an interest in them. My new idea would include a suicide bath scene just before the artist smashes the mirror. This is to show that she is desperate to get away from her self and does not know what to do. As she goes under the water she gets an easier idea of getting away from her self, which of course is smashing the mirror. Here are the music videos which include the bath scenes:

The bath scene starts at 3:37

The bath scene starts at 2:24

To fill in the gap one idea is not enough. So I have simply thought of an idea using the broken mirror that I still have at home. My new idea of using this mirror is mea walking on the mirror in the dark while a torch is shinning just on my feet. This would be an interesting shot, and would represent the artist walking all over her self, showing the power that she has over herself as she has finally gotten away from her self.

FEEDBACK FROM MORE EXPERIENCED PEOPLE

As my mother has viewed my music video she thought that it was good but it needed to be improved in places. One thing that she has suggested is the start of my music video, where the pen tablet drawing appears. She said that my very first idea of the scruffy drawing fading into my face, needs to be done as it would look much better than the scruffy drawing jumping straight into me singing. One of the things that she did not find so successful is the ending, this is because it confuses people with the story line. As I have repeated the same footage for the ending, it does not make sense. This is because in the previous shots I have smashed the mirror and in the ending shots I pick up the same mirror.

As one of my teachers has viewed it, she has given me some criticism too. As we have watched this video and spoke about it we have both agreed that the part at the very beginning of me singing takes too long. The fact that I am not moving does not make the video exciting so my teacher has suggested me to include some photographs flashing in between the footage of me singing. I have found this idea very interesting and I will try my best to complete it. She has also agreed on the ending part of my video, and has said that maybe I need to film some new footage for it, as the footage repeats.

FACEBOOK FEEDBACK

This is the feedback that I got from the audience within 23 hours. All of it is positive and I am very pleased with it. However, I am not too happy as people have not said that anything could be improved and I think that something must have gonne a little out of the way, and I know for a fact that it is not perfect. I would like to get some feedback from older people also, as they have experience more things in life. These people would be my teachers and my family members as I know that my family members are not afraid to criticize my work which I find very helpful as they want me to succeed. 

MUSIC VIDEO

After all of my research and planning I have finally finished my music video! By the looks of it I would call rather successful as it all goes with the music, not only the visuals but the messages behind the visuals. It has been rather challenging to do it all on my own, but I was quite surprised of what I am capable of, as I did not ask for much help from the technicians during the editing. In the end I have struggled as I had a few seconds left and I had no footage that could be used. This has made me use the same footage that has already been used in my video. Whats now left is to get some feedback from an audience, for improvements while I still have time for improvements. I am determined to do anything to make this video as successful as possible.

INTER-TEXTUAL REFERENCE Goodwins theory

6. INTER-TEXTUAL REFERENCE (Inter-textual references to other media such as Films)

Nanna Oland Fabricius, better known by her stade name Oh Land, is a Danish singer songwriter and record producer. She is and experiment artist.


I have been influenced by her uses of the torch within the video of 'Heavy eyes'. A Year ago I was viewing this video and I was amazed by the fact that it is very simple but effective. As we have been told that we are making a music video this year, my mind has went straight to this video. It has left me wowed and I knew that I wanted to do something similar to it, looking at the techniques of it.

9 DECEMBER, Journal

As I have reshot yesterday I have found it rather successful as I believe the torch on the face works very well, as it looks like a police station trying to get information out of a criminal. In this case information about how the artist feels towards herself. I think that it would look better if the background was a bit darker, but the torch used is the smallest one that I have. this means that I will need to use the power of Final Cut Pro, and make the mids and the blacks darker than they already are. I hope it will work as I do not want to do more re-shooting of the same thing, again and again. If it does not work, I will HAVE to re-shoot, unfortunately...

RE-SHOOTING Production schedule

DATE: 08/12/2011  

LOCATION: My house

TIME: 17:00pm - 18:00pm

PROPS: make-up/a white dress/tripod/flip camera/white wall/torch

CAST: Me as the artist,an extra person to film me.

As I could not cut me out for me to go in the mirror, I have given myself a task of re-shooting. I have said that I will use a green/blue screen whilst re-shooting but I have changed my mind. I want the scene of lip singing to be rather dark and catchy, in this case I am going to take myself out of the mirror or over lay myself with the existing mirror/pen tablet drawing and shine a torch in my face for it to stand out.

THESE ARE THE SHOTS WHICH NEED TO BE RE-SHOT

7 DECEMBER, Journal

Today I have started to edit my shots together. As I have started, everything has gone rather successfully, talking about the pen tablet work. However, as I have asked one of the media technicians for help of cutting me out and putting me in the mirror, he said that it was impossible as I needed to shoot my lip singing shot behind a green screen. So, my next idea is to try and re-shoot this video. I would like to try and use a green/blue screen, just to make my idea successful.

6 DECEMBER, Journal

As all of my filming and most of my research and planning is done I am now ready to edit all of my shots together into a one music video. I am very excited to see what the final outcome will be, but scared that some bits may not work and re-shooting may take place. What I like to do is, to edit each of them on their own, and then put them together as a whole, as this makes life easier for me, and separate shot has a different meaning.

PEN TABLET ATTEMPTS

My very first attempt has gone very bad, this is due to me saving the drawing layers one by one. This means that they will all appear separately on a plain white background instead of it being a mirror.

I have decided to close all of the layers and save them by opening one at a time, which means they were open on the same image but at different timing due to them being in different orders, this has worked very well, as when I have flicked through them quickly you I saw that it looks like it is being drawn on the mirror.

I have decided to try one last time, using the same technique as the last attempt but saving it little detail by little. This has worked much better, as it looks like it is being build by lines and not chunks.

THE FIRST TWO COLLAGES ARE NOT IN ORDER THAT THEY WERE MEANT TO BE IN. THIS IS BECAUSE I DID NOT REALIZE THIS WHILE PUTTING THEM TOGETHER.

USING PEN TABLET

As me and my mother have connected the pen-tablet on to my PC we have noticed that it does not work. As we have got it working, my mother has decided to make it wireless. This was not a very good idea as it had wasted time, but it has worked in the end which has made it easier for me to use. The image shown on the left is us trying out the pen tablet on Photoshop looking at different shades to see what I could use for my music video. After we have tried that we have started looking into photoshop recording actions, just so I would not have to make a new layer every time i draw something. As I was very impatient we were not able to find it and I have decided to use the harder way of saving each layer after a few lines of drawings. I have then decided to trace an image of myself using the brush tool, jus to try the technique of the pen tablet usage and see how my final drawing show look and what could be made better. So, this is my very first attempt ;

I have found it very hard to use as I have not used it before, however as I got the hang of it, it did not seem so challenging after the few hours. I very enjoyed this, and wish to continue using it for my other forms of work, as it is something different and unique in its own style. This trial did not please me as much as I thought it would, but as I have came to my final image I have actually 'Wowed' in my head as it did look rather interesting and pretty unique.

3 DECEMBER, Journal

I have finally finished all of my filming and all of my photo-shoots, which only leaves me with the editing section of the project. Talking about the filming on Saturday, 3rd of december, it has turned out very well. However, it has taken me much longer than I have thought it would take. The filming only took me about 30-40 minutes, but the pen-tablet work has taken me about 5-6 hours. Which was a nightmare, but worth it in the end. Whilst filming the mirror scene I have placed the mirror on my mums bed against a white wall just so it stands out, and have covered everything in the background with a white sheet, just so the room looks plain. As I have looked at myself in the mirror from the angle that I wanted it to be filmed I have realized that the mirror is too big and that my lips can hardly be seen. The lips had to be the main subject of the shoot due to me lip-sing the words to the song. I have decided to use a different idea which was to film me against a white wall, which will make it easier to cut me out of and place me in the mirror, making it look like I am looking in the mirror. This has worked much better, as I could crop my face into any size I wanted to.

THE CHOSEN PROMOTIONAL POSTER

I have came to a conclusion of choosing this poster. This is because it fits in perfectly with everything in mind; the genre, the album and the artist itself. I also believe that it looks professional, due to the interesting image, which makes the poster stand out with it's uniqueness. The mirror makes it look like it has been Photoshoped, which is the technique that gives it that unique look. 

PROMOTIONAL POSTER DESIGNS

 As I have started to think of ideas for my promotional poster I have decided to create more than one poster, just so I have a choice between a few. I have came to a conclusion of using the same layouts of the the album information as I thought that it has all worked well with different photos. I have kept the title of the album and the artist nice and big at the top, for the audience to recognize it easily from further away. Under the title I have decided to write the date of the release of he album, just so it is easily noticeable. At the bottom left I have decided to include an image of my digipac just so the audience are able to find the album at the shops easily as they will know what they are looking for. The copy right information is just under the digipac so the audience straight away know that they if they decide to download this artists music without permission, it will be classed as stealing. On the bottom right I have also included the stores that the album can be bought at, just so the people who are interested in this album will not have to run around the world trying to find it.

Ok, so this I could say that works well due to the black background letting the information stand out clearly. However, the image of the artist does not fit in very well, this is because the girl in a white dress is right near the girl on the logo. This means that it is not very catchy as it does not stand out on its own. Due to these reasons I do not think that it is as successful as it could be.

This image works much better than the previous one due to the artist being recognizable as her face is in the shot. I also think that it goes very well with this poster due to a mirror being included, which gives away part of the album. Even though it is rather effective, I do not think that it looks professional enough.

This is my favorite so far. The information stands out very clearly as the background is black. I also love the image, due to the hair covering the artists face, showing the bad relationship between her self. The mirror included also gives away part of the album, which makes the audience want more.

This I also like very much, due to the image being quite simple but effective due to the lighting. The whole focus goes on the album as only part of the artist can be seen, which is the whole idea, to keep the focus on the new album. I do not find it very professional due to the type face not blending in with the image very well, which makes me drop it out of my favorites.

CHOOSING PHOTOS FOR THE PROMOTIONAL POSTER

One of these photographs would be a good idea to use as the writing about the new album would really stand out. This is because there is not a lot of detail within these photographs. Also, the artist can hardly be seen which is not very good but interesting as the audience have to recognize the artist through the style of the poster as well as the logo and the name of the artist.

These are also very good due to not much detail. I also like them as the main photos for the promotional poster due to them relating to the artist as a big mirror is included within the photograph. Dark and bold text could be used, and it would stand out as the colors of these photographs are whites and grays.

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These are also very interesting and relate to the artist even more as she is actually looking at herself through the mirror. The body language and the facial expressions let the audience know how she feels about her, which is rather clever as it reveals part of the album.

2 DECEMBER, 2011

Second day of winter.

As I am in school, unfortunately I am not able to film as I have no props to be filming. So, my plan for todays double lesson is to start making my promotional poster and maybe if I have time do some editing of my recent clips.

PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

I am left with only one shoot, which makes me very happy as I can start editing my music video soon. If something does not fit in or does not work I still have time to re-shoot it. The last shoot sounds good and exciting, but it is the most challenging as I do not know wether my idea with pen tablet will work, as I have never used it before. Lets hope it does work and it will not be as challenging as I think it will be.

DATE: 03/12/2011  

LOCATION: My house
TIME: 11:00am - 14:00/15:00pm
PROPS: Pen tablet/make-up/a white dress/tripod/flip camera/mirror/PC
CAST: Me as the artist,an extra person to film me.

SHOTS WHICH NEED TO BE SHOT

TASK LIST

Due to me having a lot to do, I easily forget and therefore I have decided to make a task list to make my life easier for me.

MOVING IMAGES

 While shooting my moving images I have decided to make some changes within my ideas, to make it all much more exciting. These are the changes to these shots:

 This was supposed to be a continuos movement of the artist against a wall while a torch shining at her. However, I felt that it needed more to it, so I have came up with a new idea. I have decided to use a hall way and have the artist appear closer and closer within each shot. As the hall way was very dark I have decided to have the torch switch on and of and different places, which the artists switches. So, if the artist is right at the end the torch would shine on the artis and switch of, the next place that the torch will be shining on is the artist being in a different place. This creates a mysterious look, as the audience do not know where to expect the artist next, further or closer away, as all they see is darkness while she switches positions.

As I have said before, me and my brother have discovered an idea of using a torch creating shadows on the wall. This technique has been used on the moving images too. The camera is hand held which makes it look more rough fitting in with the broken mirror. I have also tried to use the same technique as the one above, which looks quite interesting. Half way through the filming I have remembered that the whole idea of these moving images was to make show the artists happiness due to her escaping from herself and not facing the mirror anymore. So, I have came up with some shot changes which shows the artist looking to one side of her then the other, noticing that she is free and starting to smile. As something funny happened while filming I could not stop laughing and my mum has filmed me laughing, even though it was a mistake I want to use it as the main part of the ending due to it being very natural and looking quite creepy. 

BROKEN MIRROR PHOTOGRAPHS

My idea was to create a happy look of the artist laying in the broken mirror parts. This is to show that she has escaped from herself. I believe that these photographs have came out very well, due to the interesting use of the torch and the broken mirror parts. However, I have forgotten about the happy facial expressions, which I have included later in the moving images.

SETTING UP FOR THE SHOOTING

 My plan has shown that I need a broken mirror for my photo-shoot/filming which means that I had to get a broken mirror from somewhere. As I did not have a broken mirror I had to smash one myself. After a long thinking of how to smash it without hurting myself I have decided to take it outside and put a cloth over it, so the bits of mirror do not flick everywhere. I have found one of my dads weights in the shed and thought that it was heavy enough to smash the mirror. Using my safe techniques I have managed to smash the mirror without hurting myself, although I did cut my finger without even noticing, but I survived! The next thing to do was to brake the frame, which I could not do by hand. As my brother had solid shoes on I have asked him to kick it, and it has worked very well as it broke in half.

As the mirror has been smashed I needed to set it up in a room on the floor, to make it look like it has been smashed in the room, on the floor. As I have set it up it has came out rather well, as it did look like it has been smashed in this room. Not perfectly, as all of the broken mirror bits would flick all around the room, but I wanted all of the glass to be together to make a better effect.

As I have layed out the broken mirror, my brother has noticed the reflections on the wall. I have found this very interesting and have decided to see if it would work better in the dark, using a torch. As we have tried this out, it has came out very interesting and looked quite magical, which fits in with the video, as the artist escapes from herself she feels happy.