Storyboard

Storyboard

Storyboard

Storyboard

Cast- Actors

These are the actors that will be featured in the music video. Jordan and Beth

Filming

I filmed today (Sunday 9/10/11) I found it very exciting, I was able to follow everything on my storyboard; however there where some areas where I filmed different parts because I came up with new ideas and I thought it could work better with the storyline. The actors were very easy to work with; at some points I found it difficult in positioning them within in the different camera shots, but I was able to over come it and move on. I when to various areas , to shoot different scenes, I played around with camera movements and angles. The outcome of the video should to be interesting and able to portray the narrative in an attractive and clear way .

Need to RESHOOT!

In the video there is a female part and a males part. I upload all the clips on my computer and was able to see, the female actor turned out great in the video. However the male actor seemed to be smiling a lot and getting the lyrics wrong; which would confused the audience. I want my video of be of a high standard, so I am going to reshoot certain sections in order to create the best music video as possible. When looking over the clips that I filmed, it came to my attention that the males part needs to be filmed again in certain areas.

Moving onto the designing

I have collected the data from and questionnaire and formed plans for my music video; I have also made some music video research. So now I am on to the digipack- for the digipack I am going to do a CD album cover and a magazine advertisement , to go along with the video . I started researching various album covers first form different genre, to understand the different styles used for the presentation of different artists.

Various CD album covers

Album cover research

This is the front cover for Empire of the Sun’s walking on a dream album. The front cover appears to be very chaotic and packed with all different types of imagery. The imagery used is very mystical ; there's images of tigers, ships, futuristic planets & elephants with crowns , set on a misty blue sea with mountains visible beneath. You can tell by looking at the cover that all of these elements do not go together ,its all really surreal . The surrealism used could connote all the different elements of a dream; which relates back to the title “ walking on a dream”; the title also may connote the style of the music, giving an insight to the audience that their music is different and bizarre. The colours used , are light blue mixed with dark blue with some yellow and orange shining through background; again this could connote that “fantasy dreamland “ I think the cover is very interesting and does make you want know more about the band and their music. This a good element to remember when designing my front cover because that what I want, I want the target audience to have a great interest/ attracted in that CD front and enjoy it.

Album cover Research A tribe called quest is an African- American hip hop group , who are very influenced by their ancestors , so they combine that African pride (that black people loved to portray so much in that era) with their urban street “hood” image that was very well respected in that time by music; to create a CD front that will be eye catching and will portray who they are . The CD cover background is of various images of men with “old skool” headphones , at that times those headphones were in style and they were mainly associated with hip hop music. So having the from page covered with these images, it may connote that the group is trying to inform the audience of type of gene and possible at the same time promoting a “hip hop” trend . The woman is an Afro-centric figure placed in the centre of the cover, which not alike their previous work, and which connote that this is essentially the heart of their music. The Album cover takes the same format as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and could serve as a time capsule of who has influenced the group.

Album cover research

This is an album cover for Adele's album 19;the front cover displays a close up of one side of her face, her name and the title of the album. The use of lighting in the image highlights a portion of her face ,which may connote her innocent as she is young ; the background is black, which draws the audience’s attention to the image. The title 19 itself tells the audience her age, so the combination of use of lighting and imagery helps portray that she is a new youthful up and coming artist in the music industry. The back of the front carries on the theme of presenting a portion of a body; and then used bright lighting to create soft and clear atmosphere. The list of song titles are displayed on the right, in a handwriting front , which could connote the personal element of the album ; the album may be based on her life experiences.

Album cover research

This is Kings of Leon’s album Come Around Sundance. The album is presented by bright and mellow colours ( reds, oranges , purples yellows ) which reflects the title of the album “Come Around Sundown”. These colours are used to help of the audience visualise what type music of which the album consists and maybe what type genre the band is . I think its very important is make sure that when I am designing my front cover, I need to take into mind colour schemes so that I may chose the right one for my cover in order for it to be a successful album front cover. This cover does not present a lot of imagery on the front but on the back; the band is captured on the beach and the sun is so bright that only the outline figure of theme is visible.

What I have decided

I have decided that I do not want to feature that band on the front cover. After searching different cover, I came across many where the band was featured on the front and I didn’t I would like to include inside the album. I think it would be more interesting , if I was able to capture something ( a model/ or an object) and place it on the front in order to portray the title of the album. I think not having the band featured on the front cover, would make the cover more interesting because the their along ready feature in the video ( they are the actors as well as singers). The xx is a cool and young band, I want something on the front cover that will portray their creative/ artistic take on music.

Ideas for album cover

The XX

Title: Crystallised Star night layered over the image.

Title: Basic space Chairs/ sofa in the wood “ enhance on “open space in relation to the title basic space

VCR Photoshoot featuring the band member surrounded by tapes

Title blood red moonRed ink , illustration ,Red lip black&white photos

“Breathing out and in” could focus on the lips or nose.

Things are getting closer to the sun: the photoshoot could be something be focused on the sun and there could be a person or a object in the images in front of the sun

The artists featuring, on the front cover

Original Images Here are few photos chosen follow a photoshoot I did based on the chosen album title “crystallised”

I took this photo of a model looking down as they walk through the woods. The photo is very mystical and very attractive, the reason why I linked this photo with the band, is because of the possible album title “ Crystallised” I am using photoshop to make my album cover, because I want to be able to use the best software to a great cover.

Making album cover

After I uploaded the photo, I cropped it down to the right size of a CD cover and then added a white border. The reason why I added on white border on is because it makes the image stands out and it draws all the attention to the model in the image.

Making album cover

The next step was to add text to the album cover . I added the title “crystallised” and the band’s name “The XX”Then decided I didn’t like colour of the front, so I played around with the colours, to see what when well together & what looked best

Making album cover

I uploaded my image on Photoshop. I took this image of a model shaking her hair in the sunlight. I wanted to use this image because it had a very mystical vibe to it; and I think placing, this sort of image with the title “ c” of the album creates a visual aspect on the album for the audience. That’s what I want, I want the

Making album cover

After I cropped it I layered over a starry night and deepen the colour. I wanted to enhance the mystical vibe that I wanted to represent the band’s album.

Making album cover

Making album cover

So far so good, the cover appears to be looking great. The only problem is that you can not see that text very well. so I could either change colour, the which I think will be difficult the image is very dark and I’m not sure what would be a great colour to go well with it. So I have decided to find another way. I played around with different tools on Photoshop and found that if I place I dark shape behind the text, then helps it stand out.

Making album coverI placed a black rectangle behind the text, to make it noticeable. I think works very well and looks good. You can see the text clearly, its big & bold and most importantly it stands out making it easier for the audience to read.

Finished cover

CDs Cover Finished

I designed a selection of CDS covers. I always think its good to have variety of design placed forward, because then you can compare and contrast, in order to find the best cover

Audience Feedback Questionnaire

I created various covers for the album, so that I could different opinions from the audience in order to choose the best possible suited album cover for the band. I think by doing this I am including the audience , taking into their opinions and catering to their needs ; for questionnaire I asked around 20 people, and asked them which do they preferred. The results are in and everyone seemed to like the one on the bottom right ( image with girl /black & white)

I am very pleased with the results of the questionnaire, because this particular album cover is my favourite. I think everything goes well together and it look very artistic and professional.

Final piece This is my final design for my CD, which was chosen by the audience. This CD cover was mainly experimental, its totally original, the theme and concept is mostly based on the word crystallised. It was easy to base the album cover the word “crystallized” because there is so much you can get from it; when I thought of the word; I thought mystical, stars, glass and dark cosmic mixed colours. So I brought all these words together and I began to brainstorm and expand on my ideas.For this design , I created an image that was of a dark mystical theme; which I placed behind two black shapes which I then, layered the title of the album and the band’s name. Applying the dark shapes behind text allows the audience to read the album cover and makes stand out & effective. I experimented with different tools on Photoshop to try and enhance the theme, that I was trying to portray to the audience. I liked different effects the images gives off, as it is very artistic and is unlike the iconic representation of an artist on an album cover. I wanted my album cover to stand out and to not be like an other current album covers. I am pleased with this design as it is unique, artistic and eye catching. It is very different to other albums cover the I have research, because the artists are normally featured on the album, so it links with the video and other advertisements. However some artists that have an vision creating album art ( creating something out of the ordinary and artistic , when I saw the concept I, it inspired me to do the same. That why the band the xx do not feature on the front cover . I think the look at I have created will be interesting to make a magazine advertisement .

Photoshoot of the band

I wanted to do a photoshoot of the band, so that their will feature in the album pictures inside the album. The reason why I want to add this images inside is because I want the album to have a personal aspect to it; the audience are not able to see them on the front cover, however feature in the music video, but I just wanted to draw the audience to who are they as well as their music.

Bringing the album together

Designing: playing around with Photoshop, to see what works well and what is the best possible way to present the artists in the album.

Other Back Covers

These are some other back covers, I made, these covers were made in Photoshop. You can see that the styles are very similar, that’s because I based the design on the front cover that was chosen by the audience. So these are the design that I played around with the effect s on the Photoshop , I wanted to get the right colour scheme and design as the front cover.

I layered a starry background over the image, add that mystical vibe that the front cover seemed to have.

Here I used a different image. I played around with colours of the front, to see what type of a effect that would create for the back front . Personal I didn’t think it worked well.

For this cover, I deepen that image altogether . I saw the front cover was a very dark image, and I decided I waned the same for the back cover. Also I dint want the models face to stand out, so deepening the image removes attention of the model onto the songs listed. Through research I have learnt that all back cover s can be busy, but somehow design that the main focus is the songs listed on album.

Finished Album

Back of booklet

Front of bookletThese are the lyrics that will feature in the booklet with

the album.

Front cover Back cover

This is a template of the CD. Here I placed my completed digipack design on a album template I had found online. I am very happy with outcome of the design, I think it looks very professional and believable as an album.

Finished

Album

This is a print screen of my ITunes showing The XX's song & my album cover; this is how the song would appear if searched or listen to on the iTunes. I presented this in this way to show how it can work as a conventional design on a popular music playing software.

Promoting the album on ITunes