Action plan (January)

Monday 6th January - Revision for exams

Tuesday 7th January - Revision for exams

Wednesday 8th January - Editing third draft of poster, teacher feedback on third draft of poster

Thursday 9th January - Editing final draft of poster

Monday 13th January - Revision for exams

Tuesday 14th January - Revision for exams

Wednesday 15th January - Editing final draft of album cover

Thursday 16th January - Editing final draft of album cover

Friday 17th January - Filming extra footage, edit decision list

Monday 20th January - Revision for exams

Tuesday 21st January - Revision for exams

Wednesday 22nd January - Editing final draft of music video

Thursday 23rd January - Editing final draft of music video

Monday 27th January - Revision for exams

Tuesday 28th January - Revision for exams

Wednesday 29th January - Editing final draft of music video

Thursday 30th January - Editing final draft of music video

- Editing third draft of poster, teacher feedback on third draft of poster
Thursday 9th January - Editing final draft of poster
Monday 13th January - Revision for exams
Tuesday 14th January - Revision for exams
Wednesday 15th January - Editing final draft of album cover
Thursday 16th January - Editing final draft of album cover
Friday 17th January - Filming extra footage, edit decision list
Monday 20th January - Revision for exams
Tuesday 21st January - Revision for exams
Wednesday 22nd January - Editing final draft of music video
Thursday 23rd January - Editing final draft of music video
Monday 27th January - Revision for exams
Tuesday 28th January - Revision for exams
Wednesday 29th January - Editing final draft of music video
Thursday 30th January - Editing final draft of music video

First draft of music video

Evidence of us filiming

This is me filming the piano footage:




This is Megan filming some of the graveyard parts:

This is Caroline filming one of the pivotal parts of the video:

Raw footage

Action plan (December)

Monday 2nd December - Raw footage

Wednesday 3rd December - Editing of first draft of music video

Thursday 4th December - Editing of first draft of music video

Monday 9th December - Editing of first draft of music video

Wednesday 11th December - Light Reflectors

Thursday 12th December - Editing of first draft of music video

Monday 16th December - Editing of first draft of music video

Tuesday 17th December - Editing of first draft of music video

Edit Decision List (fifth)

Reshooting graveyard scenes (5th day filming)

Our graveyard scenes which we used before are adequate, however we felt that we needed more varied shots. This would involve close ups of the characters face which we will be able to use in the final production.

Second draft of poster

This is our second draft for our poster. After receiving feedback from our teacher, her general consensus was that the poster has potential. In addition to this, she liked how the house style is cohesive throughout our ancillary tasks. We also decided to talk to another media expert who gave the poster 4/10 with many critiques to amend. He stated that the colours shown were plain and didn't entice you to go to the concert. He thought the font house style present worked well within our theme, however, wasn't keen on the positioning of tour dates and encouraged us to take inspiration from other artists posters.

Edit Decision List (Fourth)

Re-shooting lake/park scenes (4th day filming)

As previously stated, our lake footage has been deleted/disappeared from the cameras. Therefore, today we will be filming similar footage near the lake. This should be similar to our previous footage we took before. Today, we will be filming park footage. This will involve roundabouts, swings, slides, seesaw's etc. to see the two main characters having fun together.

Re-shooting list

Scenes we need to shoot:

·      Megan walking (front view) {graveyard} [black dress, shiny shoes]

·      Megan’s feet walking (close ups) {graveyard} [black dress, shiny shoes]

·      Walking on hill (front and back shot) {hill} [hoodie, black skirt, white top, dr martens]

·      Bench shot (front and back shot) {bench} [jeans, black top, green jacket, socks]

·      Lake (side, pan, front, back, long shot) {lake} [jeans, black top, grey hoodie}

·      Park {roundabout, swings, seesaw} [jeans, black top, red hoodie, red converse}

Filming for lake scene has disappeared/filming park footage

Unfortunately, half of our footage which we took the other week has disappeared off the cameras. Fortunately, the picnic and hill scene has been saved, however the lake scene has somewhat disappeared. This therefore means we will have to reshoot the lake scene and try to make it as similar as possible to the previous footage.

Action plan (November)

Friday 1st November – Audience feedback from teachers

Monday 4th November – Reshooting list

Tuesday 5th November – Reshooting and filming lake and park scenes

Wednesday 6th November - Look through footage    

Thursday 7th November – Reshoot Footage

Monday 11th November – Look through footage

Tuesday 12th November – Edit decision list four

Wednesday 13th November - Pictures for Poster (SECOND DRAFT)

Thursday 14th November - Second draft of Poster

Friday 15th November - Feedback on second draft of Digipak [album] / Second draft of Poster

Tuesday 19th November - Reshoot graveyard scene

Wednesday 20th November – Look through footage and edit decision list five

Thursday 21st November – Editing of first draft

Monday 25th November – Pictures for Digipak [album] (THIRD DRAFT)

Tuesday 26th November – Light Reflectors

Wednesday 27th November - Continue editing first draft of music video

Thursday 28th November - Continue first draft

Second draft of digipak (album cover)

This is our second draft of our digipak for our album cover. This depicts one of the main characters from our music video holding the symbolic rose which is a key component to the music video. We decided to edit this on Photoshop, making the image black and white by desaturating. We thought this was appropriate as we could then edit the rose and make it stand out. We then decided to use a serif font because we wanted it to look sophisticated.

This is our second draft of our digipak for the back of the album cover. We decided to include a cross necklace as the main focus seeing as the cross within the music video is very essential. Again, we decided to use the serif font to ensure that there is a cohesive appearance throughout the digipak. A similar technique we decided to follow for the back cover was to colour the cross against the desaturated background. We felt that this was important as the cross and the rose are very essential within our music video.

Light reflectors

Light reflectors are used to angle the lighting in order to hit the object effectively.

When producing our final drafts for our digipak and poster, we decided to use light reflectors to enhance our overall piece. We felt light reflectors would help contour the face which would give a more dramatic look to the images. This would enhance our poster and digipak, especially since we have decided to take our images front on at eye level, creating a better rapport with the audience.

Fonts for our album cover

ELLIE GOULDING

ELLIE GOULDING

ELLIE GOULDING

ELLIE GOULDING

ELLIE GOULDING

These are the final five fonts for our ancillary tasks. We varied from serif to sans serif to see which one was most popular with our target audience. After asking, the preferred choice of font was the fourth one down as it was said to be 'more contemporary in the online media age'.

Distribution of Music Video

Edit-Decision List (Third)

Filming footage for tent scene (3rd day filming)

Today we will be filming footage for the tent scene. We want this scene to be similar (maybe) to Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift's music video 'Everything has changed' as we felt that it would be romantic to see them laughing, joking around and talking to each other.

First draft of tour poster

First draft of Digipak

Emotional response

When creating our first draft we got feedback from our supervisors who told us are narrative did not create a strong enough emotional response we decided to deal with this problem by creating a stronger narrative of the woman walking to the grave more with more close-ups on symbolic items such as the red rose.

Edit-Decision List (Second)

Research into 'Dyer's star theory'

Dyer proposes that:

'A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines, etc. as well as films/music).'

The theory can be broken into 5 sections:

1. The making of a start
2. Constructions
3. Audience and Institutions
4. Hegemony (Cultutral Beliefs)
5. Character & personality

Here is  diagram of Rihanna, who is the perfect of example of somebody who comes under the 'star theory':

Digipak Moodboard

This is our moodboard regarding our ancillary task. The various images are inspiration for when we get around to creating the album cover/poster. We have decided to stick to a sophisticated appeal, making sure that the rose sticks out within the images as it is significant throughout our music video. Black & White was also important as we felt that it would fit our genre,

Filming footage for picnic & hill/rock/lake (2nd day filming)

Analysis of Digipak (No.3) Rihanna - Loud

Analysis of Digipak (no.2) Beyoncé - Greatest Hits

The second digipak that we are analysing is a limited/platinum edition of Beyoncé's greatest hits. Only 500 copies were on sale when it was distributed in 2009, which proves the rarity of the digipak. The compilation of the album is formed through three of Beyoncé's previous studio albums:

• Dangerously In Love
• B'Day
• I Am...Sasha Fierce

The album consists of 20 songs on disc 1 in addition to another 20 on disc 2. These songs are all of various genre's, which makes it difficult to define Beyoncé's type of music. However, Beyoncé has gained herself an honorific nickname in popular music, especially in the USA where she is labelled as the 'Queen of Pop' & the 'Queen of R&B'. Themes of 'R&B' and 'Pop' are conveyed in regards to her costume and make-up since she has been glamourised to fit the image of a typical popstar. As glamorous as Beyoncé looks in the pictures she also seems to oppose the conventions by having edgy make-up and clothing, which makes her stand out. This represents her R&B side because it depicts her cooler persona, which relates to the recent evolution of R&B music that has blended in with rap. A genre that is stereotypically viewed to be listened to by a younger, in-fashion type of audience.

One element that stands out in terms of representation are the colours used throughout the digipak. black and gold are the main two colours used regarding all parts of the digipak, which symbolises the importance of Beyoncé's 'greatest hits'. This also corresponds with the titles she has gained which have been mentioned in the paragraph above, these being:

• 'Princess of Pop'
• 'Queen of Pop Music'
• 'Queen of R&B'

The fact that the images of Beyoncé are black and white can also represent her timeless mark on the music industry. I feel that these images are made black and white to connote the simplicity of her beauty and the fact that she is considered one of the greatest musicians in this day of age. The costumes do not make the images seem to sophisticated as they are modern and 'urbanised' to fit the R&B element to her music. 

The narrative throughout this digipak is to display the importance of Beyoncé's 'greatest hits', hence the gold and black colouring as they represent bold importance regarding her music within the industry. Her alter-ego 'Sasha Fierce' is the main focus in terms of the images of her, since 'Sasha Fierce' is a lot edgier and is well regarded amongst fans of Beyoncé, it would be beneficial to include her within the digipak. The fact that the discs are made to look like vinyl records also tell a lot about Beyoncé's significance within the music industry. The balck and gold colouring also blends well with the vinyl record and connotes a story that Beyoncé's music will also be remembered in history.

In conclusion I feel that this digipak is a good example of what should inspire our own. The black and white colouring is  a feature that we feel would be benficial to include, in addition to the simplicity of how the images are layes out and the fact that there aren't many effects used to manipulate the way certain things appear. 

Analysis of Poster (No.1) Miley Cyrus - Bangerz Tour

Miley cyrus tour poster from cmbproductions

Analysis of Digipak (no.1) - Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

The first digipak we have decided to analyse is Katy Perry - Teenage Dream. 'Teenage Dream' is Perry's third studio album and was released August 24, 2010. It recieved a mixed reception from critics despite making it to number 1 in the US Billboard Charts and being commercially successful worldwide.

Within Perry's album there is a variety of genre's in her songs, but the main one is seen as pop. This relates back to the digipak because the images are represented as sweet and bubbly, which indicates that the target audience are females and that the genre is fun-loving, easy to dance to and cheesy. This relates back to the pop genre.

A clear narrative to this digipak is parallel to the film 'Alice In Wonderland'. This is due to the fact that Perry goes into a different world that is not shown or indicated through her past studio albums. We believe that her new 'candy world' depicts that she is now in a brand new world of fame, fortune and success. A specific scene within Alice In Wonderland that correlates with the them of 'Teenage Dream' is the Mad Hatter's tea party. This comes down to Perry's costume designs and the fact that general concept is very adventurous and fits the 'wonderland' image.

Throughout the digipak there is a clear theme of 'candy', or 'sweets' as they are more commonly known as in the UK. This is firstly shown from the front cover of Katy Perry lying naked on a cotton candy cloud. This depicts her sweet personality and childish nature, whilst her being naked shows her more promiscuous side. This is further reinforced by the fact that she is wearing a 'paper cupcake mould' which is designed to show off her body parts in a sexual manner. The inside of the digipak displays Perry wearing different crowns in two separate images. One being a Tiara, which is formed using a gigantic gummy worm as the basis, and lollipops creating the general design where jewels would have been placed. The Tiara connotes Perry's 'princess' type of personality as they are represented as younger, playful and refreshing types of people.  The other type of head dress is a crown, which depicts her royalty in addition to her stern side, which gives assumption towards how she has already made it in the music industry. The last image that is shown on the back cover is an image of Perry with a three-tiered cake posing as a hat. This looks similarly to a stereotypical chef hat, along with the stack of cakes that surround her symbolising dirty dishes. The ideology behind this is that she controls every aspect of this 'candy world' and has to work hard to achieve her status in the music industry. Lastly, there are two discs included in the digipak; one resembles a doughnut, whilst the other has the design of a candy cane. These concepts resemble 'treats' for the people who are buying the CD's.

The main target audience are young females in-between the ages of 10-25 because they can relate to the character of Katy Perry being a 'Princess' and a 'Queen'. One song also unites and enforces the message of 'girl power', which is 'Californian Gurls'. The promiscuous nature of her imagery within videos and underline of message regarding her music may appeal to a male audience between the ages of 14-25.

Planning for evaluation

'Candidates should be discouraged from seeing the evaluation as simply a written essay and the potential of the format chosen should be exploited through the use of images, audio, video and links to online resources' (OCR)

Format

• A blog
• DVD extras
• A podcast
• A powerpoint / Prezi
• A website
• A combination of above

You should see the evaluation as a creative task and the potential of the format chosen should be exploited through the use of images, audio, video and links to online resources.

What do you need to do?

• Use your blog and upload your video to YouTube to gain effective audience feedback
• Show creativity in the presentation of your evaluation 
• Embed still images, video/audio, Powerpoint with callouts added to annotate production examples
• Use screen grabs and annotations of process with FCP or photoshop
• Compare portfolio work with existing commercial media products and describe in what ways generic media conventions have been adhered to or subverted
• How effective have the brand/products been in appealing to the target audience?

What do you need to do for the evaluation?

• How effective have the main and ancillary tasks worked in combination? Was the house style maintained throughout? Were there coherent links between all products?
• How has digital media technology been used in the research, pre-production, production and evaluation stages
• Be specific and discuss the fine details of production
• What improvements can be made to the products? What evidence is there of audience feedback? How has it been used to inform discussions regarding improvements to the products?
• Use, re-use, deconstruct information from your planning blog
• USE MEDIA LANGUAGE

Action plan (October)

Tuesday 1st October - Analysis of Digipak (No.1) Katy Perry - Teenage Dream

Wednesday 2nd October - Analysis of Poster (No.1)

Thursday 3rd October - Analysis of Poster (No.2)

Friday 4th October - Analysis of Digipak (No.2) Beyonce - Greatest Hits

Monday 7th October - Analysis of Poster (No.3)

Wednesday 9th October - Analysis of Digipak (No.3) Rihanna – Loud

Thursday 10th October – Filming footage for picnic and hill/rock

Friday 11th October – Look through footage

Monday 14th October – Edit decision list two

Tuesday 15th October – Emotional Response

Thursday 17th October - First draft of Digipak [album] (ROUGH) / First draft of Poster (ROUGH)

Friday 18th October - Filming footage for tent scene

Monday 21st October – Look through footage

Wednesday 23rd October – Edit decision list three

Thursday 24th October - Questionnaire on first draft of Digipak [album] (ROUGH) / First draft of Poster (ROUGH)

Friday 25th October – Results of questionnaire

Monday 28th October – Pictures for Digipak [album] (SECOND DRAFT)

Tuesday 29th October - Second draft of Digipak [album]

Wednesday 30th October - Begin first draft of music video

Thursday 31th October – Continue first draft

Edit-Decision List (First)

Today we have decided to look through our footage collected from the 18th and 20th of September. To do this, we have made a system by color coding each clip with Red for no, Yellow of may be of use and Green for good footage we can use. Also, we felt that some footage needed to be refilmed, therefore we labelled these as purple.

Filming footage for piano & graveyard (1st day of filming)

Chosen Location

We decided to visit the location which we would be present for our graveyard scene. We found this effective as we were able to go to the location, meaning we were prepared for filming as we knew exactly where and what we would be doing.

Narrative Conventions (COLOURS)

colour psychology

Narrative conventions (CROSS) + explaining the creation process

1. Collected 3 pieces of MDF
2. Cut part of wood to make a dagger into the ground
3. Cut curves into the sides of the MDF
4. Marked where the dowel joints would go
5. Drilled the dowel joints
6. Cut dowel wood which would be used for dowel joints
7. Filed and sanded the MDF
8. Glued together and clamped to hold
9. Sanded copper down on one side
10. Place the enamel on the copper to be heated
11. Varnished cross with mahogany wood stain
12. Waited for varnish to dry
13. Glued enamel to cross
14. Cut brass to fit in the middle of the cross
15. Sanded brass
16. Engraved brass with "In loving memory of Jacob M. Ewing"
17. Glued brass onto the cross and placed in clamp

We decided to create this cross in memory of one of our main characters Jacob M. Ewing. This was symbolic of the fact he passed away, and a cross connotes death. We decided on a cross instead of a stone as we felt that this looked more military, creating a heroic image for the character.

THE FINAL PRODUCT: