Evaluation and Feedback of the video

This blog is going to be an evaluation of the final music video. First I am going start off by showing the feedback that we got from people, when we put it on facebook and on youtube:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150256978908266

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PX_8Q_XivE

I also got some feedback from a member of my family that actually watched the video and this is what they said:

Unfortunately we didn't get that much feedback on the final video, which is a little disappointing however the feedback we did get was actually quite nice and helpful and was really appreciated.

My Evaluation:

I think that the way went about getting feedback was probably the best way to try and get some, because there is a really wide audience on Facebook and Youtube and as seen before Lady Gaga has a lot of fans that are on Facebook. I think that in order to get some more feedback and specifically from both Gaga fans and 'haters' it may have been a smart idea to post the video onto a Lady Gaga group page on Facebook. Then we may have got some better feedback and also some constructive criticism that may have helped us make some changes if we had the opportunity to do so. I think that one of the main changes that I would make to the video would be to possibly reshoot the scenes we did with the handycam as some of those shots aren't that great quality. I think the other main thing that I would change would be the costume that we had for Wolfman, I think we would.should definitely have a better costume for him and maybe spend a lot longer looking for the right costume and get it no matter what the cost is and just split it between us.

For this project we used to main pieces of software: Photoshop and Final Cut Pro. I had already been introduced to Photoshop not only through media but through some of my other courses that I do therefore I found it pretty easy to get on with and to produce my digipak and my advert. However I have learnt some new skills specifically when it comes to putting text onto you project and then changing things like the colour of it etc. Therefore I could then experiment with different colours and see what worked best with the rest of the items that I had already placed onto the promotional pack pieces.

With Final Cut Pro I was totally new to it all and it was a little difficult to understand at first but after sitting back in a couple of sessions and watching others use it, I was able to understand it a little more and I was able to move and change shots and cut them etc. as well as adding effects and changing the properties of the shot etc. By the end of it I was a lot more confident with it than when I started out and think I have gained a lot of skills from it, like the ones mentioned above.

With my promotional pack I have kept all the fonts very similar if not the same and used the same colour schemes throughout each piece which I think makes it effective (similar to the LL Cool J advert). I have also used very similar photographs throughout my pack and also used the same effect on them so that they all flow nicely and look professional when they are put together. I have also put all the necessary information that was needed onto my promotional pack pieces and used the adverts that I analysed as templates for this so that I wouldn't miss anything out. I have even added extra pieces of information like reviews from a music magazine to make the pieces slightly more interesting. Overall I do think that the work I have produced are a coherent package, and they work well together and are similar, as I made sure that I referred back to one part of the set, when I was working on another, and therefore they are quite effective.

I think that my promotional pack has developed quite a few forms and conventions of real media products as I created my flat plans using some of the real media products that I had researched and seen in everyday life, therefore I was able to kind of produce a product that would be able to sell and be used like one of the professional media products. I also think thought that I have challenged some of the forms and conventions of real media products, the main thing that comes to mind when I think about this is the front cover of my digipak as normally they would have one large photo of the artist on the font, but I carried on producing my digipak with the collage idea in mind because I thought it was effective and different and would therefore stand out from the others. Overall with my promotional pack I think that it all works together really well and I think that it could be related to and also differentiated from some real media products with some of the techniques and elements that I have used and either gone against during the creating process of my Lady Gaga promotional pack.

Finished Video

Creative Camera Use

This blog is for the creative camera use, which means that here I am going to talk about and put in clips or screen grabs or any interesting techniques or special effects that we have used in our music video.

At first one of the main effects that we wanted to make sure we had on our music video was some kind of old film or television type grain effect, so that it really made it look like an old horror film. This would in theory go alongside having the whole of the music video being put into black and white. However we had a change of plan we turned the music video into black and white and we all thought that it looked really good, which therefore made us slightly unsure about whether or not we should put the film grain on it. We decided against it, as we wanted to upload our video as soon as possible, and we hadn't seen what the film grain effect would look like on all our shots as it could look good on some of then yet ruin some of the effects we have on other shots. Therefore we decided that we would go against what we had originally planned and wanted and didn't put the film grain effect onto our music video.

But we did have quite a few other effects that we had included on different shots within our music video and I am going to talk about some of these below:

One of the first effects that we used, was actually pretty simple, we had shots of Wolfman and Dracula eating hearts (that has been mentioned in my storyboard blog) that were both filmed with the character on the left side of the shot/camera. However when we put the shots into place, considering that they were quite close together it looked slightly odd that there very similar shots (had very similar layouts) and it looked a little odd and quite repetitive, but not in a good way. Therefore we decided to see what we could do to it, then it was mentioned that what if we tried to flip it somehow so that one of the characters ended up being on the opposite side of the screen, to the original shot. We tried this and it actually turned out pretty well and I have to say that I think it looks a lot more effective as its not so repetitive and also it doesn't make the shots and the character seem kind of the same, it differentiates them. You can see the final outcomes of the two different shots below:

The next effect that we used was another pretty simple technique, this was the mirrored effect. We used this on the shot where Lady Gaga is walking down the path near Eastbourne pond, the reason we decided to change this shot was because it did kind of look a little plain and there wasn't a lot going on in it and it seemed a little boring. Therefore we decided to have a look at the effects on Final Cut Pro and see what we could use just to make it slightly different. We then came across the mirrored effect and put this onto the shot and we all pretty much fell in love with the effect. I think that it works because you can still see the location and also the character so you do still have an idea or understanding of what is happening in the shot, this however makes it slightly more interesting. I think that this has made it more effective and also more like a Lady Gaga video as she has a lot of different effects within her video, which we didn't really want to do as we didn't really want to take anything away from the story going on. But I think that this works as its a good effect and is really eye catching, yet it also doesn't take anything away from the original shot. This shot and effect can be seen below:

The next effect we created is really quite unusual and wasn't created during the editing stage of the making the music video but actually during the filming stage. I am talking about the dance sequence towards the end of the music video around the 3.27 mark. This was filmed in Briony's garden just like the other shots, for this session there weren't any big cameras for us to take out therefore we had to use a handycam that we weren't too familiar with. We had recorded similar shots to this before and they come out perfectly fine however they did have this like shadow movement going on in them, where if they would move their arm then you would see the trail of movement, we actually really liked this effect and decided to keep it and not change any of the settings on the camera. To add to this we filmed these shots at night so there wasn't the natural light from the sun, therefore causing the scene to be quite dark, so once we had filmed a couple we looked back over the shots and saw that this had happened, and to be honest we were really happy. We all really like this effect and when we turned it black and white it just looked even better, it really does look like a scene from a horror film and it just fits with the story and flows really nicely within the music video. It also fits in with the style of Lady Gaga as it seems like it might be something she would, as you cant exactly see all the features of the character but you still know who it is, and this is something, I believe, that Lady Gaga has done herself, but more so with costume, particularly in her new video for Born This Way. The effect that we used in our music video can be seen below:

The final effect that I am going to talk about, I have to say I think is my favourite, I love how this looks on the screen, I think it flows really nicely in the music video. I also think that it fits perfectly into the idea of the old horror film theme, as it seems like something that they would do when the character is maybe feeling scared etc. And again I do think that it would be something that Lady Gaga herself might use in her music videos, if she hasn't already. The effect that I am talking about happens at the 4.14 mark in the music video and goes with the lyric 'that boy is a monster' but also the song and beat at this point are building back up so the effect that we have used goes really well with the music. What we have done is had the actress lip sync the lyrics at the is point and because they are short and sharp she turns her head and moves on the beat they they are said (as the the music is starting to build up) and then when the music comes back in she reaches out her hand and seems to pull the camera towards her, which in fact is just a very fast zoom but the surroundings get blurred and she is the main focus of the shot. Once it has zoomed in then we have a close up of her face, and she is still lip synching the lyrics. This shot is really effective as it is quite a creative thing to do and it also fits so well with the music of the song, it shows that we have taken that into consideration and I just think that it works really well and is very effective. This effect can be seen below:

And those are the main effects and techniques that we used throughout our music video and how we got creative with the camera, not only during the editing stage of the video but also whilst actually filming it.

Rejected Footage

The screen grabs that you see above show all the pieces of rejected footage that we had filmed, but that we didn't end up using in our music video.

Quite a lot of our rejected footage were shots that were unusable either down to interferences that were distracting and would take the attention away from the acting that was going on in the shot, or were unusable simply because the actor may have made a mistake or when we were filming we just didn' t think that the shot was of good enough quality or standard to be put into out music video.

One of the shots that had quite a few takes that made it into the rejected footage pile was the one we have used at the beginning of the music video where Lady Gaga is speaking into the camera (this is the point in the song where Lady Gaga is actually just talking) it was difficult for our actor to try and complete this without laughing and also getting the timing right, this was difficult because there were us other members of the group that were filming it, watching her, so that we knew when to stop recording.

This didn't only happen with our Lady Gaga speaking though, we also had some rejected footage from when our male actor, who played both The Wolfman and Dracula characters, had to do some speaking (for the male speech in the song), he had some problems with the timing of the lyrics, we then resolved this by letting him have the song playing on an iPod, yet also making it discreet so that you couldn't see it on the camera.

We also had some rejected footage from when we shot some or most of the dance sequences that appear in our music video, this is because it takes quite a while, again to get the timing right and also with a dance routine you have to make sure that you are doing/performing the moves correctly and at the right. Once we had got this problem sort we then had to make sure the dance now looked good on camera and that it flowed well so that it wouldn't kind of stick out from the rest of the shots within the music video. We did in the end get some really good shots of the many dances sequences that we have in our music video, but we also had a lot end up in the bin on Final Cut Pro.

One of the other scenes that I have mentioned in previous blogs that has given us quite a few shots that have gone into the rejected footage pile, would be the where we have our Lady Gaga waking up in a different location to where she started out. This had to be filmed quite a few times mainly because we couldn't get the timing of the actors right. Which you can read more about in my shooting diaries blog. We had to make sure that Wolfman ran before Lady Gaga woke up, but not too fast so that she wouldn't be up and looking around in time, and we developed a little system (in shooting diaries blog) that allowed us to get this done more easily and also work on improving the quality of the shots.

And those are the major pieces of rejected footage that we had, that went alongside quite a more shots that weren't used. They all had the same or a similar reasoning as the ones I've mentioned above as to why they weren't used in the final edit of our music video. Some of the other reasons as to why we probably didn't include them in the music video could have been; poor lighting, mistakes had been made, actor-camera operator didn't have good communication resulting in a poor shot, distractions in the shot (people, moving objects, noise etc), things like this may have made us decided not to use a shot, or it could just have simply come down to the decision that we had a shot that we all preferred and wanted to include in the music video.

Advert

This blog post is going to be all about the advert, that we have to make as a part of our coursework. After creating the digipak the next thing we need to look at creating is an advert, a a part of the promotional pack for/to go alongside our music video.

The advert is/should be similar to ones that we see in magazines, either promoting an album, or a tour or maybe even just the artist themselves.

Advert Analysis:

To help me in the process of creating my advert, I am going to analyse two adverts from the same or a similar genre, so that I can see both the good and effective points and also the bad and ineffective points about the adverts. Therefore I could possibly avoid using them and make my advert the best I possibly can.

The adverts I have decided to analyse for my research are: Katy Perry's advert for her album 'One of the Boys' and for my second one I chose one slightly different, but one that I do quite like which is LL Cool J's advert for his album 'Exit 13'.

The first advert I am going to look at is the one for Katy Perry.

I think that the first thing you notice with this advert is the text and fonts used. I think these are quite effective as they are really quite eye catching. The text of her/the artist's name is the biggest on the advert and has a different colour scheme to the rest used, yet it is exactly the same as the one used on her actual album cover. This continuation I think is really effective because it shows that the items are connected. I think it would be a good idea to use technique with the pieces of my promotional pack. Also with the rest of the text that is on the advert, they have made sure that this also stands out, by making it a contrasting colour to the background photo that they have used. Therefore they have coloured the text a bright white colour. I think that this is a good idea, because it can catch your eye and make you carry on reading all the information on the advert, rather than just skimming over it and moving on.

Next I am going to look at the text/writing that they have put onto to advert. Obviously they have put the name of the artist onto the advert so that the audience/viewers know who its about. They have also made it the biggest font on the whole advert as said before. You then see the rest of the text on the advert. This text basically gives/tells the viewer the rest of the necessary information; the album - name, what it includes 'The number 1 smash hit "I Kissed a Girl"' and the date that it comes out. I think these key pieces of information are effective to have on the advert also it is just the right amount of text to have on the advert, as it lets the viewer know the important stuff without overloading them with information, and making it uninteresting.

The final thing and probably most important thing on the advert that I am going to look at is the photograph used. I think that the image that they have used is really quite effective. One of the main reasons I think this is because the artist is actually looking into the camera - making eye contact with the viewer, which I think could draw them in. One of the other things that I think shows this is an effective image is the continuation between the album cover and the background image. They both have the same feel about them and have used the same sort or era (40s/50s/60s) for the mise-en-scene. Also the white picket fence on the album cover has been carried over to the background of the advert. They also have an image of the album cover on the advert so that you can see this for yourself. I think that this continuation is really effective because it ties all the parts of the promotional pack together and they can easily be remembered and related to each other. Overall a very effective advert.

The other advert that I am looking at and analysing is for 'Exit 13' by LL Cool J. One of the main differences between this and the Katy Perry advert is the size and orientation of them. The Katy Perry one is landscape and about twice the size of the Exit 13 advert, which is portrait and like maybe an A4/A5 looking size. To be honest I think that I prefer the size and orientation of the Katy Perry advert as t seems a little more spread out and slightly less cramped.

With the LL Cool J advert I think that the first two things that you see are the image of the artist himself and the text that tells you the name of the artist. For me, out of those two the first thing that I noticed was the name of the artist. The reasons that I noticed this first was mainly the size. It is the biggest piece of text on the whole of the advert (like the Katy Perry advert). Also with this text, they have used a contrasting colour to the background, the colour of the background is white and for his name they have used a black font. I think that this is very effective as it does make the font eye catching and draws you in. Also with the rest of the fonts they have used a minimal amount of colours so that they all tie in with each other. The other colours they have used are red and black, both bold colours that stand out, especially against the background image. I like the way they have alternated the colours of the fonts I think it does make it slightly more interesting to look at, unlike with the Katy Perry one where its mainly white and then a random piece of blue text which I think doesn't work as well as the LL Cool J colours and fonts.

The nest thing I am looking at is the text/writing used on the advert. As said before they put the name of the artist at the top of the advert and also made it the biggest. Underneath that is the text Exit 13 which is the name of the album the advert is promoting. This isn't as big as the font used for the name but I think that because it has been placed directly under his name your eyes are kind of automatically drawn to it, once you've read the name, making it quite an effective technique. The next piece of text that they have used is the unique selling point of the album: 'includes the hit "Baby" feat. The-Dream'. With this they had made "Baby" the biggest so that it stands out, I think this is quite effective as it means that the viewer doesn't have to read through a lot of text to find it. Yet it still has all the necessary information that they can read through if they want to. One of the final things that you can see is the release date; this is also quite big and bold and I think this is effective has it will stick in your head, and is one the first things that you may notice on the advert. It also has the album next to it so that you can relate the album to the date and work out that it is the date the album is released. I prefer the way this date is printed as opposed to the way it is on the Katy Perry advert as it is more bold and also short and sharp and would stick in your mind easier than the longhand date that is used on her advert.The theme of the fonts used is quite military and very masculine and I think that this really makes the advert look quite sharp and very effective as it kinda of makes it have a bit of an important feel, and is almost like a war/movie poster the way they have used that type of font.

With the photo on this advert they have incorporated the same colour scheme so the same black, white and red is used throughout the whole of the advert. Also he is looking off camera and normally this wouldn't really work as it isn't very eye catching however I think that for this one it does work as it looks like he is looking at the text that has been written on the advert therefore kind of making you look at the text, and I think that because it does this, and gets you interested in the rest of the advert, it is quite a powerful image.

In comparison i have to say that I prefer the writing on LL Cool J's advert and the way that it is more scattered out rather than the quite formal column writing. I also like the effective and simple colour scheme running through the advert, and definitely will be using this technique when making my own advert

Photos for the advert:

Obviously within the advert you are going to need to have a photograph of the artist that you are creating, so that viewers have a visual aid of the artist, so that they can immediately know who the advert is about.

We have actually already taken some extra photographs of our Lady Gaga character, that I/we aim to use when creating my/our adverts. We took these during one of our media/film lessons when we couldn't do any filming. I am really pleased with the photos that our group shot and am going to upload most of them/the best ones below:

I think that for the advert the sizing doesn't really matter, I think that we need to think of it as if we are producing it to put it in a magazine. Therefore allowing us to choose from sizes like A4 ( a whole page), half a page, a quarter page or maybe even smaller. I think that for my advert I am either going to make an A4 ( a whole page) sized advert or a half page advert. I also think that it depends on what photographs I am going to use and how I will arrange it, on the software we are going to create it on, and whether that/it looks best as a full page advert or a half page advert.

Flat plans for the advert below I have uploaded the flat plans that I have created for my advert and have included notes next to them. I have then also made a kind of prototype of each one and written a little evaluation for each.

I like having the name at the top as it becomes the first thing that you see, grabbing your attention. I really like this photo I think that it is quite full on and that it really does draw you in. However I dont really like the way some of the information is written as it is kind of difficult to read and isn't very appealing.

Personally I dont really like the tiny adverts, and I would prefer to make a bigger one. I think that these have good structure to them and flow nicely. I do like the quite big and very close up photo I think that this really grabs your attention and is very effective.

I prefer this size of advert and also this kind of layout and definitely think I will be using this as my final advert layout/template. I'm not to keen on the structure of this advert it seems a little too 'strict' However it does have all the necessary information on it, making it quite an effective advert.

Finished Advert.

I have to say that I am really quite pleased with how my advert turned out. One of my favourite things is the photo, I love the eye contact she has with the viewer its really effective and draws you in, however I do think its slightly grey in some areas but where there is contrast I really like especially around her (her clothes and her skin). I really like the consistency of the fonts and also the colours used - simple yet effective. I like the scattered layout of it and the way that all the important information is there, however it can seem/be considered a little bit crowded, maybe it might have looked better if I had taken out the review. But overall I am really pleased with my advert.

Once I had finished my advert I then uploaded it to facebook to get some feedback from people on what they thought about it. This can be seen using the link or in the screen grab below:

Advert :http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150168604896785&set=o.164586800265411&theater

Digipack

This blog is going to be about the digipak that we are making for our coursework. The digipak should be apart of a promo pack, which will be an outcome of this project. Producing a promotional pack, will help in getting the band or even the song noticed by number of people, it will, in theory, increase the population of the band or song that the product is based around. The items that are going to be in our kind of promotional pack are, the digipak and an advert as well as our music video, the main focus of this project.

These products, within the promo pack, should be linked in some way to the music video that we make. It is a good idea that these three things link together, so that they look like they belong in a pack and so the whole promotional pack looks a lot more professional, and as if had been made by the record label or artist themselves.

A digipak is a thick paper (almost cardboard like) CD package. The paper is a folded one-piece section. The CD rests in a normal plastic tray, like those in jewel cases. The tray is glued to the paper. This definition was taken from one of the website that google showed when digipak definition was typed into the search bar.

The digipak that we are going to be making should/will be the same size of dvd case. But they can be all sorts of sizes. There are some that are the size of a normal album case, like the Oasis one you can see below:

However for our project the digipak that we/I am going to be creating is going to be like the ones that are the size of a dvd case. To help get some inspiration and to also look at how the digipak should look, within the genre of pop and also so that it would fit in with the target audience for our the artist that we are doing/looking at, I am going to be analysing two digipaks from the same genre that our artist is in. Therefore I am going to be looking at digipaks Music by Madonna and also Tangled Up by Girls Aloud, which you can see below:

You can see that the above digipaks/dvd are both by female artists and they are both can come under the genre of pop. I have chosen to analyse these two digipaks as I believe that they are probably quite similar to what the outcome of my digipak is going to be like. It can be said that these artists both have quite a similar target audience and fan base to Lady Gaga, which would mainly come under young adults who are females and as also mentioned before the demographic of white American gay men. Therefore I think that it would probably be best that I focus on some similar points that have been used throughout these two and other pop digipaks that can relate and really cater for and interest the target audience.

One of the first things that you notice when you look at the digipaks is the photos that have been used, and that are one of the first things that grab your attention. It is quite effective, I think to have quite a big photo of the the artist of subject so that it does grab the viewers attention, and I also think that this is a good idea as they will also practically immediately know who's product it is by seeing the photo. You can also see that these photos are quite sexy as to capture in possibly the male audience, as they may think that this is an insight as to what the product itself is going to be like. This can also kind of help intrigue the female audience as it might shows these artists and the way they appear as objects of desire. Therefore the main photo that is going to be used on the cover of the digipak is quite an important decision to make as it can be one of the main selling points of the product, so it must be a good image that will catch people's attention and that will also cater to the target audience.

You can also see on the digipak that there is a smaller photo on the back cover of the digipaks, although it may be a lot smaller than the one of the front however this can also be an important image. On both of the above digipaks these photos are of things that are quite iconic and are things that people may relate the artist, almost straight away.

On the Girls Aloud digipak you can see that their secondary photo is of the band actually using wires that make them seem as though they are flying, you can tell that this photo, it seems, would have been taken from one of their tours. In that image you also have the kind of floating ribbon effect that surround them as they are up in the air. It can be perceived as though they are representing their movements. When you look at the photo it can also seems that the girls are tangled up within those 'ribbons' which cleverly links in with the name of their album 'Tangled Up' linking the whole of the promotional pack together, therefore bringing the album and the digipak/dvd and anything else with this same theme running through it seem almost like one product, which could end up with fans from the target audience buying all of the products that have been linked with this theme within the album, digipak etc.

The second digipak, produced by/for Madonna has this same linking theme running through it. You can see that the smaller secondary image on the digipak is simply just of her pink cowboy hat, that she is wearing in the first photo. The cowboy hat, it can be said, is now one of the items that is synonymous with Madonna, after her 'Don't Tell Me' song. The cowboy hat, as well as the first image, has the background of a bale of hay, which then gives us the impression that she is in some kind of barn that may be on a farm, this tyhen again linking in to the whole cowboy and Wild West theme. Madonna has also really linked everything around the song itself into this Wild West theme. For example we know that she has the cowoboy hat etc on the digipak, but you can also take a look at the music video for the 'Don't Tell Me' music video in which she again shows the cowboy theme; she is wearing a cowboy hat, the type of 'denim' shirt that would mainly be associated with the Wild West, also some dark jeans that are also being worn with a belt that has quite a big and fancy belt buckle, something that may be related to the more glamourised vision of the Wild West. This theme can aslo been seen carred on through to the single cover for the song itself and a similar outfit, to what she wore in the video, can be seen on her when she is performing the song on her tour.

The fonts are another important component of the digipak, or any type of advertising or merchandise; as this, alongside the images, could be what draws the customer/viewer in. It is also quite important that they link into the rest of the promotional pack, as it wouldn't be very appealing or effective if something like the font stood out for being completely different from everything else and the theme of the digipak.

The first one that I am going to look at is the font on Madonna's 'Music' digipak. I personally think that Madonna's font is perfect, specifically the font that is used on the front cover as it is so cleverly linked in with the whole western theme running throughout and I think that it really kind f completes/pulls together the digipak. You can see that the font has been placed on a sign, that can be related to the signs that we see (in movies etc.) placed above the entrance doors of western saloons. There is also a picture of a horse, on that sign, which again kind of enforces the western and cowboy theme. The actual font, that the artists name has been written in, has that stereotypical western font/writing that we all imagine and associate with the western theme. They have also wisely put the font in a pink colour which again ties/brings in the cowboy hat again, as they are the same/ a similar colour.

The same kind of font is used throughout the rest of the digipak, however they have changed the colours when they are or have been used on different parts of the digipak. For example the font on the back of the digipak is either the same or a similar font type to the main one on the front colour however this time they have differentiated it by change the font colour to white. This also helps it to stand out from the dark background it has been placed on, which is an important thing to take into consideration as there id no point in having a really effective font that links into evreything if you use it with a colour hat blends into the background therefore making it difficult to be read by a viewer of the product.

The font on the Girls Aloud is much simpler than what is used on Madonna's one however still just as effective. You can see that they have definitely thought about having the font stand out from the background, specifically with the secondary font. They have chosen the colour to be white which really stands out from the black background making it very easy to read. They have used the white coloured font on the front cover to give a little more detail about the product and then it has been used as the main font and font colour on the back cover, where it explains in more detail what is on or in this pack. They have kept the same font type for the white font throughout the whole of the digipak, I think that this makes it slightly more easier to read it and digest the information. I think that it also works well with the theme of the digipak, as you could relate the choice of a white font to the white lights that we can see are projected within the photographs that they have used. It also can give off a slightly sophisticated feel as the colours are quite simple and kind of straight to the point, making the whole digipak look very professional and quite classy, which I think is quite an effective thing.

The primary font used to name the band, I think can also be said as white. However they have done a really clever thing with this main font, which ties it in with the theme running through the digipak. They have incorporated the pink swirls that were used in the photos into the font. They have kind of overlapped the swirls so that they cover the main font, of the band's name, however making sure that they are still visible, and that they totally fit into the theme a look of the rest of the digipak/promotional pack. I personally think that that is a very simple yet effective thing that they have done with overlapping the two, as it kind of makes it look like the main photo and the main font have merged together and slightly look like one whole thing.

Below I have uploaded the flat plans that I made for my digipak, I have included little notes on the side of the sketches to help illustrate what I have come up with:

Once I had drawn these out I then decided that I wanted to make my flat plans, I then used pictures of Lady Gaga herself from the internet and stuck those onto my 'life size' digipak flat plans: I will put a picture of each flat plan, with their corresponding evaluation.

Flat plan evaluation:

With the first flat plan that I did I have to say that I like the bold stand out font that was used, it is quite big and is therefore one of the first things that you see, letting you know who the artist is and who the digipak is for. On the back of it I do kind of like the way that the tracks are set out I think that it has a good ind of structure to them, yet they aren't too plain or formal. However I am not entirely sure what I think of the image used, it is a strong powerful image, but I don't think I like the fact that she isn't looking at the camera, it just doesn't seem that engaging. Another thing that I don't particularly like about this flat plan is the way that the title just says Gaga instead of her full name of Lady Gaga, I'm not sure whether this works and I think that if I was to use this as a template for my digipak I would probably have to change that to Lady Gaga.

With the second flat plan I made, I do like the photograph used on this one, as she is looking at the camera (even though she does have a mask on) I think that this is much more effective than the previous as it draws you in the fact that she is looking at you, and it is quite a striking photo and is very full on and I like that and think it works. Again, as said before the way the album list has been set is good, very similar to the previous and I think that I am going to be using this sort of layout on my final digipak. Another thing that I do like is the link between the colours used in the digipak; you have the silver that she has on her costume, in the photograph on the front and you also have the text in the same or a similar colour, I like this idea of continuation and I think it makes it quite effective and professional looking. However one of things about this I don't like is the font that I used for the name of the artist I don't think that it is very eye catching and it just wouldn't sell the product, I think that this definitely needs to change and be more striking if it was to be effective.

The final digipak flat plan that I made, I have to say is my favourite of them all. I really like the collage idea with the photos on the cover, I think that it is quite an unusual way of arranging the images and I think it works and is different to others, just like Lady Gaga is herself. I really like the font and how striking it is and how it is quite in your face and is definitely the first thing you see, letting you know who the digipak is about. Again the way the track listing is set out is good and attractive looking and I think that this is what I will be using for my digipak. The only thing that I am unsure of with this one is that I don't know whether having the font obstructing the images is a good idea, but I think because it looks so effective that way and that you can still see some of the photos I am going to leave it. Also I'm slightly unsure of the back of the digipak, I think it is a little plain looking and think that when it comes to making my final digipak I may have to try and change this so it looks more appealing, and not like it has been forgotten about.

I then took these and developed them and used pieces from each and using the software Photoshop I created my final digipak, which can be seen below:

I have to say that overall I am really pleased with my final digipak, I really do still love the front cover idea of using a collage, I think it makes it really different, I also love the way the images are black and white (which adds to the horror movie theme) and the font used is in like an iconic blood red - this really makes the text stand out and catch your attention. The only thing with this is that I wish I could have edited some of the fonts better, as they were a little difficult to colour, and possibly could have been done a little bit better. With the back cover of the digipak I am really please because I have achieved a look where it doesn't look like the back cover has been forgotten about. I have kept to the structure that I used on my flat plans, but just moved it around a little to make sure that it all fits on nicely, and to make sure that it doesn't look plan I have added and extra photo of the artist herself, and I have to say I really like this photograph and I think it is quite an effective shot.

For the inside of the digipak I simply put a photograph where the disc is meant to go and I do quite like the image as again I think that this fits in really well with the whole horror movie theme, and I really like the contrast of it. On the other side, I took a brick wall that was featured in one of the other photographs and used that as a background for the panel, I then knew straight away that I wanted to put the lyrics on that side of the main feature of the digipak, this proved slightly difficult as there were a lot of lyrics to this song and it made it a tight fit. I have to make sure that they all fit onto the page but that you were also able to read, I think I did quite well in trying to do that, but I don't think that it looks amazing and if I did it again I might put something else on that inside panel.

Once I had finished my digipak I then uploaded it to facebook to get some feedback from people on what they thought about it. This can be seen using the link or in the screen grabs below:

Digipak Cover: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150168607681785&set=o.164586800265411&ref=nf

Inside of Digipak: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150168608896785&set=o.164586800265411&ref=nf

Shooting Diaries

For our first shooting session we located ourselves just outside Lewes train station, within the car park area. We treated this as a kind of practice/test session so that we could get used to the camera and other equipment that we were using, as well as working with each other and also the different roles and jobs we would have to do on location/on set.

We started off shooting different shots from our beginning scenes that would, in theory, go with the beginning of our song/music video, where Lady Gaga is actually talking to someone (in this case one of our other characters). Within this she says "Don't call me Gaga, I've never seen one like that before, don't look at me like that, you amaze me"). To have it so that it looked like, and you knew that she was talking to someone else, we had her holding and talking into a mobile phone, so that you could see that she was having a conversation with some unknown person/character. We filmed this shot quite a few times so that we had plenty of footage to begin with and so that we could get a really nice, good shot.

Also during this filming session we shot another scene/shot that would fit in the beginning of our video. This basically consisted of seeing "Lady Gaga's" feet/heels/shoes and watching her walk towards the camera. Again we shot this sequence many times so that we got at least one shot that was good enough for us to use in our music video. We also did this so that we had it from different angles/views, and also to make sure that we had good lighting, so that you could see the shot clearly, as we were using ambient light. We also had to make sure that we didn't get anything like parked cars/passing people and cars in the background of the shot, that could potentially ruin it.

Overall I think that we had a really good first filming session and think that we got quite a bit of filming done, with the time that we had the camera for, (the shots mentioned above, were only a couple from all the shots that we got done/filmed within this session).

We had another session of filming at Lewes train station. This time we almost encountered a problem. We had one of the staff that worked within the station, asking us what we were filming and also whether we had asked for permission to do some filming in the station car park. However we explained to him that we were doing a music video for our media coursework and that it was a non-profitable project, to which he said that he was going to ask his manager/superior whether we could continue shooting our music video. Luckily we were granted permission allowing us to stay there and get the few extra shots that we needed and wanted for our video.

Within this session we had planned to shoot some similar shots to the previous session as the first session we has as the weather on this particular day/session was a lot better than the previous. This played a big part in the shots that we got done, and because the conditions were a lot better, it was easier for our actress to be able to act out the scenes better and more comfortably. Within this sessions we got shots of our Lady Gaga lying on the floor next to a mobile phone (which she would use later on) and then have her waking up in this dream like state which would actually be like the start of the song and film parts in the music video.

During filming this shot we came across a couple of problems, we had a couple of takes of the shot where cars drove into the car park, coming into our shot, therefore making it unusable as the car was very distracting both visually and with the audio.

For the next shooting session that we had booked we changed locations and we actually went in to the woods - which is pictured in my mise-en-scene blog. We went to this location to shoot some shots involving the wolf and Dracula. I think that this was a good idea, in terms of locations as it can be said that the/a woods can related to horror/scary films, which is obviously our main theme within the music video.

During this sessions we got some nice location shots to use throughout the music video, we also did some reshooting of the scene where Lady Gaga wakes up as we thought that this location might look better and also make the whole music video flow a bit easier and nicely. This would also link the shots that we shoot of the wolf and Dracula in these locations a lot better. Another reason why we reshot this scene in the woods was because they had a really nice round bench seat that we thought would be good for our Lady Gaga to lie and act out the shot on. This was more aesthetically pleasing and also gave us the opportunity to have the wolf character running on the path behind her, being the cause of her waking up.

We ended up shooting this shot quite a few times as it proved difficult to get the timing of the actors and their roles correct: we had to make sure that he ran before she woke up, but not too fast so that she wouldn't be up and looking around in time. Communicating with the actors proved to be a little difficult at first with this scene, as we had the camera rolling and had to say action but at first one of the actors went when we said action instead of waiting a little before running (like he was meant to). Therefore we set up a little 'system' where we would say action so that our Lady Gaga knew when to start acting and then we would signal to the Wolfman actor (like putting a hand in the air) so that he would know when to start running and also so that we didn't say anything out loud and end up ruining the shot. It took a couple of tries but in the end it actually worked and we got some pretty impressive shots filmed. I really like the outcome of these shots and think the way the characters kind of react to each other is really quite effective.

We then filmed some extra shots within this location that showed our Lady Gaga character getting used to her surroundings and kind of walking around the location and different props and pieces of mise-en-scene that we had or that were there at/on the location.

We then booked another session with the camera where we wanted to go back into the woods where we wanted to film some more scenes with both of our monster characters. However when we went back to the woods we came across a couple of problems. The first one was that most of the trees around and in the area we had previously filmed had been chopped down and hadn't been moved, also some areas had been cordoned off saying that they were chopping down trees and that you couldn't go beyond that point. Then as we carried on in we saw that the river that ran though the woods had now flooded, taking over pretty both the pathways. Therefore we couldn't film within this location. I do believe that we did try to get a couple of shots but it really wasn't working and it also wasn't a very safe environment for us to be working in, therefore we decided it would be best not to shoot there.

We were then stuck for locations for our next sessions and therefore we had to sit down and do some thinking and planning for what we would do and where we would go for our next filming session. We then found a similar looking wood location around the back of the performing arts building in the college campus. We then decided to do some filming there for our next session.

So for our next session we went to our new location and did some filming there. During the couple of session that we used this location we managed to get quite a bit of filming done. We filmed quite a lot of the shots with Dracula and Lady Gaga in, we shot the scenes where he goes to bite her... which goes to one of the verses I believe. We then also got one of the dance sequences done in this shot, which I personally think turned out really nicely and I have to say that this was one of my favourite locations that we filmed at.

Shooting Schedule

As a group working together on this music video, it is important for us all to know what we are meant to be doing and when we are doing them. Therefore some sort of shooting schedule is needed. We have as a group come up with a type of shooting schedule, so that we all know when we are needed, to come in and get some filming, or anything else related to the making of this music video, done.

One of the problems that I think we have, which I think kind of affects the amount of filming we do is that most of our music video needs to be shot outside. This can and on occasion has become a problem for us due to things like the weather conditions.

However despite these setbacks we did come up with a rough shooting schedule. We have one actor playing both the male lead characters, this is so they will be quite similar and also one of them will have a full costumes that will disguise the fact we are using the same actor. Therefore because we need him in practically most of our music video, we thought we could start of with some of the scenes both of our actors would be in, therefore we had to work around the days in which he was free. These were wednesdays, thursdays and fridays, however sometimes he might not have been available on one of those days but we made sure that we worked it all out way before the day actually arrived.

We also had to plan around lesson times as we all had different timetables and therefore would be free when maybe someone else had a lesson and this proved to be quite difficult, so we therefore did afternoons when people were free, also during long breaks we had during the college day and we also did quite a few session through the weekends.

We also had to allow time for travelling into the locations that we were filming at, therefore we though that good time to meet up would be around twelve so that we all had enough time to be able to travel in to the different filming locations. And also so that we still had enough time throughout the day so that we could get a substantial amount of filming done.

On one of the first sessions we did filming that was around the train station in lewes, we came in on a sunday I think it was, again around 12 and did a couple of hours shooting. This session was one of the first that we did and we used this as a rough kind of practice session, which actually turned out to be really helpful and we even got some pretty good shots from.

The next few sessions that we did in and around the woods in lewes were filmed during the day around 12 midday on wednesdays and fridays, these sessions were where we got most of our good filming shots done, that can be seen quite a bit within the music video.

We then had another session that was done on a thursday I believe which we arranged to do within the breaks that we had during lessons therefore that did mean that we only had a short amount of time to film in but it was helpful and very productive, this session took place in the woodland area that is behind the Performing Arts behind actually in the Lewes College Campus.

We then also did some shooting in Eastbourne in and around Briony's (a group member and also our Lady Gaga actress) house. These shots were taken both during the day and at night so that they were really effective. These turned our particularly well especially with the shots of Dracula at night as they fit really well into the horror film theme. We also had some dance routine shots done in both daylight and in the evening in the garden of Briony's house, the setting and background of these shots is actually really nice and makes the shots different and effective.

This basically outlines the shooting schedule that we stuck to when it came to filming our music video. We did a lot planning of these sessions through communicating with each other either when we met up in lessons or through speaking on the phone or online, and we would also arrange the next day and time we were going to meet up on, after we had finished a/the previous filming session. I think this worked out pretty well for us and we all stuck to it, which therefore resulted in us getting a lot of good shots, that we could use within our music video.

Health and Safety

This blog post is going to all about health and safety, specifically when it comes to working on and creating a music video.

Health and safety s a very important factor that you need to take into consideration when it comes to doing a project like creating a music video, specifically concerning what/the different locations you are going to be going to or using.

I think that it may be a good idea either before or when you get to a location, to kind of go over any kind of possible dangers that there could be and how you would or are going to avoid them . When/each time that we book out a camera to film some scenes/shots for our video we have to fill out a couple of forms, and one of these does include a type of risk assessment, where we have to check off any kind of risks or dangerous situations that we think we may come across during that particular session of filming.

With the locations that we are using, that we know of at the moment I think that we all know we need to be really careful when we are filming there.

With filming at the station there is really only one major hazard and that would be the passing cars, that would be in the car park, which is where we are filming. However we aren't filming in the middle of the road so I don't think that it is really a problem, but we all know the risk of filming there and are aware of the other people and moving vehicle around us.

Another potential risk there could be the concrete block that our actress is standing on. W had her stand up there because it gave us the right height to have her and the tripod and camera level. And we also had a plain colour backdrop, from the metal container/box that was behind her. However between shots we had to be careful that when she got off and on the of the block that she didn't fall, because she was wearing very high heels and could have ended up really hurting herself if she fell.

The main other place where there could have been a ahzard would have been when we were filming in the woods. This is because we were walking along the paths that could have been wet, muddy and slippery which would have been caused by the weather, therefore when walking along there and setting up equipment, and also when having our actors work there we had to be very careful so that we didn't slip over and hurt ourselves.

The river also runs through those woods and there is a fence that kind of barricades it off that we were thinking of using within filming that we would have to be careful off as it would be very dangerous if we were to fall into the river or drop something so we had to be careful when/if we were working around this area.

Therefore, we know that wherever we work there is going to be a risk of some sort and before you start setting up any equipment or start getting to work it would best to have a look around and make yourself and others you are working with aware of any possible dangers that could possibly harm you or other and even damage any of the equipment.

Storyboard and Animatic

This blog is going to be about the storyboard. Making a storyboard is a very important process within making the music video, and it can be widely misunderstood that you don't actually start making the music video until you pick up the camera and starting filming shots. However that is actually wrong and that process of making a music video actually starts with thinking up your ideas for the video and also putting them down in the form of a storyboard. A storyboard can actually be made up in different ways: you can have or make a hand drawn storyboard, in which you would make detailed sketches or the ideas you have for each shot. Or the other option is to have a photographic storyboard in which you would take and use photographs to demonstrate your ideas on your storyboard.

One thing that is recommended when it comes to making a storyboard, specifically a hand drawn storyboard, is that you do not draw stick men to demonstrate your ideas. This is because the drawing of a stick man does not actually give a good enough or clear enough impression of how you should compose the frame. Therefore unless you are actually good at drawing then it would be a better idea to use and create a photographic storyboard.

Also on the storyboard you need to make sure that you have all the necessary information about the shot above it so that the people who will actually need to use to storyboard, (people such as: camera operators, the actors and extras that are in the shot and mainly the director) can understand practically everything that needs to be going on in the shot and also how the shot should be set up and look on the camera/look to the viewer.

The storyboard is a very useful piece of equipment and this should be taken with you when you go out on location shooting your film. It is specifically important so that you know the plan you had to set out each shot and what was going to be involved in it. This storyboard can be helpful to pretty much everyone that is involved in the shooting of the music video. It can help the actors that you are using to get into the correct position and also so that they know what movements and props they need to be doing or using. The storyboard, along with a shooting script, can help the camera operator as well as the director by refreshing their memory with their original ideas. It can specifically help them with setting up the shot as things like the shot type as well as camera movement and direction/action are written down on these information sheets.

With the storyboard for our own music video, I think that we are going to be using photographs to show the set up of the different shots that make up the video/storyboard, this is because if we drew if we wouldn't really be able to make clear enough images that would be easy enough for us all to interpret and understand when it actually comes to filming the shots when we are on location. I think that when we are first deciding things like the order and setting up of each of our shots, within our storyboard we will use little and rough sketches so that we can at least get an idea of how the music video will go and also how to approach it. We will fill in the image parts of the storyboard when we have found and shot the correct photographs, unless we think later on that it would be easier to demonstrate out ideas for the shots by using some hand drawn sketches.

With our storyboard we have changed and rearranged it quite a few times. We have had problems occur during our filming sessions that therefore have caused us to alter some of our ideas and we have then had to change our storyboard, this unfortunately had kind of made the last version of our storyboard slightly rough and more in note form than pictures as that was easier for us to get across our idea and figure our sequences and order of some shots within our storyboard and video.

Above I have scanned in the final storyboards that we used to help us create and film the shots that make up our final music video. As you can see we did leave space to draw sketches or stick photographs but didn't actually have the time to fill it in, this is because we decided to leave it in note form, for when we take it out filming with us as it is easy and quicker to read. I am now going to tell you about a couple of different shots that are shown/talked about on the storyboard so that you can get an idea of how it works, and how we used it.

The first shot I will look at is number 11, which can be found on the second page or storyboards, this shot would be where the song is playing and the lyric 'He's a wolf, in disguise', to which we have then written that during this we would like the shot to start off blurred and then come into focus (for when it comes to editing) and the shot would consist of a tilt or even a zoom that would reveal The Wolfman character. We chose to have the shot like this because we were following the lyrics or at least using them as a a base for our story and we thought that it would be good to follow them for this particular shot and have the wolf in disguise, not only in his costume but also in the shot and editing of the shot used to introduce him.

Then next shots on the storyboard that I am going to look at numbers 17 and 18, this is because these two shots are related and the kind of follow on from each other. For these shots the lyrics that run through them are: 'that boy is a monster, m-m-m-monster - repeated like 3 or 4 times' so during this time we thought that it would be a good idea and place to put in a dance sequence/routine. You can see that on the storyboard itself we have written that the action for these shots would be a dance, and that the camera movement that we would be using to film these shots would either be static or tracking if they were good enough. Again these shots would be long shots so that you could see all of the movement that the actor is doing/performing. Across the two shots you can see that I put down that this dance part would cover the whole of that verse of chorus (that is mentioned in the lyric part of the storyboard) and that we should use varied shots and angles when creating or filming this routine/these shots.

The next shot I am looking at is number 26 which shows Dracula and Lady Gaga having a scene together, during this one we were thinking of having them interact with each somehow, which if you look at shot 25 you can see that he bites her, therefore this shot is a continuation of that shot. For this one we again followed the lyrics which says 'Boy, now get your paws right off of me.' which allowed us to have the Dracula biting her and then at this point in the song she would turn around and then push him/his arm off of her. For this shot we were planning on having a static, mid/long shot, and we actually did film both of these and we went with the long shot for the final music video, as it looked better when you could the whole of the character's body.

Another shot that I'll talk about is shot number 30, which can also be found on the fifth page of storyboards, this shot would accompany the lyric 'he ate my heart, I love that girl', and the rest of that verse/bridge. During this we again wanted to stick to following the lyrics, as much as possible and yet still be really inventive. Therefore as you can see from reading the storyboard, we wanted the shot to consist of kind of slow motion shots of The Wolfman and Dracula eating hearts, which we actually managed to re-create. This shot doesn't actually have a specific shot type written down with it, which probably should have been done, but with this one I think that we needed to experiment with shot types and see how they would as we need to be able to see all the necessary information and acting going on.

And that is how our last storyboard was put together and how we worked from it and used whilst filming our music video.