Why Have Digipaks?

A Digipak have also other benefits other than them being trendy, for example:

It is compact-easily accessible

More movable and lighter- easy to manage

Shatterproof- It will not break as easy as an average CD case

Has larger space for graphics- which means that from afar it will be more likely to see

And of course lastly, it is Eco-Friendly- can be recycled.

Digipak Template

My gigipak will include four different images and the image below describes the layout of my digipak:

However my digipak will include a free poster which will be placed in the middle of the front cover and the panel which is shown opposite the front cover in the template above.

Research for Magazine Advert

What is a Magazine Advert and why is it produced?

Advertising is a form of communication for marketing which is used to persuade and encourage the audience such as listeners, viewers and reader to take action for example- to buy something (and in this case, an album)

The purpose of a Magazine Advert is to:

• Promote the artist
• To sell their music
• And lastly to attract the audience

What is needed to be included in my Poster for the Magazine Advert?

• The Artist's name
• The name of the main/featured song/their No.1 Single
• State 'The No.1 Album'
• Bonus Tracks
• The Release date or 'Out Now'
• Slogan or Tag Lines
• The Star Image (the image of the artist him/her-self/themselves)
• The Indie Pop Look- for our genre it would be a Grunge ad Indie vibe
• Factors of linking between the music video and layout which could include; colour palette, desing and composition among other things
• Social Media content such as- Twitter page name, Facebook Page name and Instagram
• URL to their Website Page
• Newspaper and Magazine Reviews
• Q Code for mobile access
• The Record Company name or logo
• Brief Information about Tour Dates

What is a Digipak?

What is a digipak?

A digipak is a type of cd packaging make out of card stock or other heavy paper/cardboard material. Digipaks can flip open like a book, or it can have three parts so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left with the cd in the centre portion.

CD digipaks are especially popular in the music industry for CD albums as well as multiple CD disc sets. They give a product an expensive and professional feel- especially when well designed CD artwork is combined with clever use of specialist print finishing options such as 'matt lamination', 'spot UV' or 'embossing'.

Embossed Digipak

Matt Laminated Digipak

Spot UV Digipak

Creative Decision Making

During the progress of our filming and editing of our music video, in our lesson today as a group- we discussed a variety of subjects within our projects such as the some of our footage and what scenes actually fit the scenes in the video. We found that some shots don't work with what had been filmed before such as one shot of our main protagonist (Lauren) running in a field on a bright sunny day, however this scene was next to more footage of her in a dark location which made our narrative very confusing and when reflecting and analysing our edited footage, we also saw it looked 'choppy' and was not flowing which is why we decided to take it out. 

Official Band Name- The IVth

We have decided on our band name- this will be 'TheIVth'. Reasons for choosing this title is because of the research that we've been doing with indie bands, researching their name and why they have chosen their ideas- which is how we have thought of 'The IVth'. There are four people in our group and having 'The 1975' and 'Alt-J' being inspiration and using symbols, we also thought this was a good idea- to change 'The fourth' into 'The IVth' which looks more edgier and unique especially with the Indie genre we have chosen.

Filming Day 4

     

       

Today was the filming of the 'Hospital Scene' and it was so much fun filming, although we thought  that we would have some issues with the handheld shots, all in all everything turned out great! The choreography throughout the music video had to be in synchronous with the rhythm and was key that every move had fit with the timing.

Today was (in my opinion) the best filming day that we had, for the reasons being that the mise-en-scene was very realistic. We used medical separation curtains, white bedding material and pillows, proper medical equipment and a black screen to re-create the verisimilitude of a mental patient.

CHANGE OF NARRATIVE!!

Today, after going to the British Film Institute, as a group we brought up many ideas and had a lot of thinking to do. By doing all this creative decision making, we have come to a conclusion that we need to change our narrative slightly and as Mac 2, we have come to a strong agreement.

We were so enthusiastic with what we wanted our music video wanted to look like, that we wanted to do so much that we have lost the basis of our narrative. We thought we would simplify our strategy and source as a group our ideas so that we can combine and create a simple but effective and eye-catching music video; just like Xavier Dolan, I quote 'The Look beats The Idea'.

Tom Woodcock- the speaker at the BFI, had given us some Top Tips (simple advise) to help with focusing on our music video.

BFI Trip

We recently went to the BFI once again and this time we learnt about the variety of music videos in different eras and comparing the journey of editing throughout the years and generations.

Below is the Presentation that was shown to us which we found very useful for some re-thinking within our own project and ideas.

Some of the Music Video's that we looked at were:

1) Len Lye- A Colour Box (1935)

2) Nat King Cole- Frim Fram Sauce (1945)

5) Nancy Sinatra- These Boots Are Made For Walking (1966)

6) Queen- Bohemian Rhapsody (1975)

8) Whitney Houston- I Want To Dance With Somebody (1987)

9) The Pharcyde- Drop (1995)

10) Adele- Hello (2016)

Day 1: Music Video Test Run

Today we have decided to use our photography room and art room to test and shoot some parts of our official music video that we will later on be editing. We will be shooting our (soon to be once edited) saturation shots.

We have been watching the Calvin Harris & The Disciples music video to see what the female protagonist is doing in these shots and then incorporate them into our music video.

We have changed the actions slightly so the actions fit with our theme of having a 'mental illness' and therefore we need Lauren to free her inner animal by acting innocent, frightened and vulnerable.

Not only this but also showing the different personalities she has which will be portrayed through the variety of colours which will be edited on her.

Filming Day 3: End of Day Vlog

Today was an interesting day, we filmed at Hilly Field (a small park near Enfield Town). Lauren sang the bridge of 'Free The Animal', we also brought an artificial lighting system with us which we shone onto our main protagonist so that the different colours portray her variety of personalities.
However during filming today, we realised that because of the winter season is starting also that the afternoon gets darker quicker and so through today's experience I would say we will be much more prepared for the future.

Vlog at Forty Hall

Filming Day 2: Forty Hall

Today we filmed at Forty Hall Park which was interesting, we unfortunately didn't get everything that we expected to get done but we will be planning to go again to another park which we found was a better mise-en-scene for our music video, and there we will be finishing off a few little things.

It was a cold day, it was also a muddy and wet day too, however we got a few good shots but we need to come back to do more as our video camera had died halfway through our filming process.

It was a hard day but worth it.

Media Questionnaire

Below are my questions followed by their feedback that I asked my audience:

Composition and Rule of Thirds

Rule of  Thirds

In photography and film, making the Rule of  Thirds is used to make the overall composition more pleasing to the eye. The Rule of Third is a frame that is divided into three horizontal and vertical sections where the image is placed at the intersections, for example:

The reason for not placing Lauren in the center of our framing was to make the audience confused/uneasy and uncomfortable, and having our mise-en-scene to be the most dominant in this picture, leaving the female protagonist to look vulnerable in this shot. This can also be an example of 'Surrounding Subject'.

 Diagonal Lines

Diagonal Lines are used so that the subject is placed on the diagonal line of the frame, which adds drama and action to the scene of which the audience is lead by the eyes of the character in action.

We have also used 'Diagonal Lines' in our own music video as shown in the images below:

Album Inspiration

Here we were inspired by the colours and patterns that are used on THE STROKES's album cover 'Angles', the reason for this is because they are very bright and eye-catching and different to the everyday band designs such as their label bold in the middle with a blocked coloured background.

The reason I like this design is because PVRIS uses the image of the small mirror which has a view of a static screen which represents the song called 'White Noise' which is their album name but also one of their song titles as well.

CHVRCHES uses a variety of abstract pictures on their album covers which pulls the audience in as they would question the cover, not only this but on their album front on the right, they caption underneath their name is 'Every Open Eye' which then describes and portrays the roses being collaged with the pixelated version.

When you open your eyes you can see the whole picture.

We wanted our title for our music video to have roman numerals incorporated in it as our genre 'Indie Pop/Alternative' have bands such as 'The 1975' which use a very old fashioned font which may be because the Indie genre was at its peak in the late 1970's, but also could be that looks effective to the audience.

What/Who Is An Audience?

Audience:

An audience is an assembled spectator, viewers of the public, listeners at an event such as a play, film, concert or meeting.

Our audience for our music video is targeted at teenagers from 13 to early twenties for example 24.

Overlapping With Saturation

Day 1: End of Filming

The footage below shows what we filmed of our main protagonist today.
We decided to film Lauren making irrational movement, like she cant stop what she is doing and is not thinking out it, the concept of that someone else is inside her also showing she has a variety of personalities that are trying to come out.



We used the music video 'Running with the Wolves' by Aurora as shown below. Here you cam see how we were inspired by the artist Aurora's action and her choreography displays slightly the same concept as our narrative; 'running with the wolves' and 'freeing the animal' both display that they want to be free and will run until they become free.

Storyboard Anamatic

We have created an anamatic of our storyboard to show how our music video could turn out, the song of our music video 'Free the Animal' in the background created realism and shows us-as a group what aspects we need to work on to make our music video the best that it can be.

Officially Finished Storyboard

We have officially finished our Storyboard, in this we- as a group have discussed the variety of camera angles, Editing techniques and what we want in our narrative piece in our music video. We have gone into detail in each of our shots in our music video, although it was very long-winded it's actually really good because when we are ready to film we will know how to prepare e.g where to put the camera in each shot and how to angle it, also where we will be filming and what the protagonist is doing/wearing.

Filming Day 1: Paint VS Ink

In our first filming day we decided to also create a water effect with ink. The reason for doing this is to show the female protagonist's (Lauren) personality through the colours that we will be adding. Firstly we tried using paint- this didn't turn out very well as the paint was too thick dense when dropped into the water as shown below:

      

We then decided to use ink in the water which turned out to be better because it is more soluble when mixed with water compared to the paint, the ink flows ans streams into each other when the other colours combine.

  

Above shows a shooting schedule. As a group we are finding it really hard to film together as we do other subjects that are also uses practical work such as; textiles, photography and drama. 

The schedule includes date and time of filming, the location of where we will be filming, who can make it and what we need to bring with us e.g. the clothing of what our main protagonist will wear, and then additional noted if there is any other important information that is needed to be included.

Storyboarding

As a group we have started storyboarding, watching and collecting information from music videos such as; Calvin Harris and The Disciples 'How Deep is Your Love', Eminem featuring Rihanna 'The Monster' and also Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space'. Using a variety of music videos helped us become more inspired with all the different story narratives, camera angles and editing techniques that we can change and use into ours.

Band Name Inspiration

Alt J

The 1975

The Who

 The Killers 

These bands use a variety of concepts that as a group, we would like to use when naming our band. Most bands add 'The' in front of there title of their bands, we like this as it we think it adds definition to our band name and makes it stands out- it looks bold. Another idea was to use symbols in our name, the reason for this is because we have found that not many indie genres do this and therefore making our band name unique and different.

On the right shows our track list for 'The IVth' band and the album 'ANIMAL'.

- The Black Microphone
- Screaming
- The Old Elephant
- Incapable Window
- Dancing Keys
- Back In Time
- Generic
- Obsessed
- Staircase to Heaven
- Underground Love
- Cannonball

We decided to change the name of our song from 'Free The Animal' by Sia, to 'Canon Ball' by The IVth. We wanted to make the title relevant and so we used the lyrics of Sia's song to do so.

We 

Group Lip Syncing

As a group, we decided to make a music video for our song choice 'Sia- Free the Animal' which is based on our lip syncing to discover who is best to suit our main female protagonist.

We have found that our strongest person in our group is Lauren, therefore we have decided to use her as our main female role in our music video.

We have also realised that the song that we have chosen is very up-beat and fast and so we need to really be on-top of getting our mouth around the words and keeping the rhythm in sync with the lyrics.

We used two different techniques when recording our test trial, we all first mimed the lyrics and recorded it, which was hard but also the outcome was as we hoped, but something that we did find helpful and works well is actually singing along to the song when recording. We played the song in the background whilst Lauren was singing to it then when we were editing we muted the music playing and added a fresh layer of Sia's 'Free the Animal' which turned out really well.

Editing Saturation

We have finished filming the content needed of Lauren for our saturation scene so we are now editing the saturation and add an effect of making her 'double blind'. This will bring out how her multiple personality disorder through editing.

We edited our film by using iMovie, however the effects were good but we didn't like the outcome as the colours were too faint and doesn't give a powerful effect to the audience.

We then started playing around with the 'artistic techniques' and filters:

Taylor Swift - Blank Space

We were also inspired by Taylor Swifts 'Blank Space' specifically the parts where Taylor shows a variety of emotions which in the eyes of the audience could portray MPD. This can be shown between (1.54-2.10), (2.31-2.35), (2.56- 3.12)

Calvin Harris & Desciples - How Deep is Your Love

What we liked about the music video 'How Deep Is Your Love' is because of the (0.27-0.31) with the variety of shots of the main female protagonist that has been edited to transition onto each other with the change of colours that ave been shone onoto her.
We were thinking of using this idea to portray our female protagonist (Lauren) and her MPD.
The shot after shows an isolated walkway/path of which looks like it is in a basement of maybe the house/nightclub which is then being represented next in the video. The use of the hand-held camera is give a sense of realism but to also show the audience the confusion and state the main protagonist is in- which is what we would like to give.

Eminem - The Monster ft. Rihanna

In 'The Monster' we were inspired by the silhouette of the artist Rihanna and the low key lighting and dark colour pallets. We want to use this to represent the different personalities that Lauren will be portraying throughout our music video- one could be her 'spiteful' and 'aggravated' side.

Copyright

Below is a picture of our copyright permission:

Audience Feedback...

Questions and Answers:

1) "Love the exploration of mental illness and gender empowerment. Also love to aspect of different lighting! It will be very effective! How will you stray from the glorification of mental illnesses though?"

A- We will be expressing this through the relationship of the two individuals and how one the main female protagonist (Lauren) has the power to control her boyfriend and try to show to the audience what it is really like for someone to be in this condition and it can affect others as well as themselves.

2) "In terms of editing, how are you going to represent her change in personality?"

A- Adding layers will provide different personalities however throughout our music video you will see sudden clues to how she will be represented such as the colours we use in some shots will determine the mood she is in and therefore how she is acting which will show a variety of sides to her personality.

3) "How are you going to recreate the 'How deep is your love' section?"

A- To recreate this, we will use our photography studio with a black screen behind Lauren whilst we record her posing in the different shots which we will then edit and layer onto each other. We will then change the saturation- which is an example for the answer of the last question. The colours will have their own meaning.

4) "Are you going to conform to the indie genre?"

A- Due to our props and mise en scene (of which does not fully conform to indie genre) we will be focusing on the Pop and Alternative Genre and the narrative story in our music video.

5) "How does your lyrics relate to the narrative idea?"

A- The lyrics have been related in many ways. What we interpreted from 'Free The Animal' is that some people and this built up tension in them, such as stress, anger which then causes 'anxiety' for example. In our music video we wanted to show how the animal within her (the animal being her illness) is slowly destroying her relationship with her boyfriend but the boyfriend in her life does not mind being pushed around because he loves her so, although finding her harder to handle and be with.

6) "Where are you going to film the hospital scenes?"

A- Our hospital scenes will probably be set on a table with cloth underneath, the reason for this is if we did use a bed then it would be harder for Lauren to move when she performs her choreography.

7) "How will you get the hospital props? the bed?"

A- I know of someone who is a doctor who may be able to help with the simple doctors equipment such as gloves, stethoscope, thermometer etc..however if we still cannot get hold of the equipment for this scene then we will be using the most simplistic props such as a clipboard and checking the patient.

8) "Are you sure the school hall/house locations will look professional enough for your video?"

A- We will not be using the school hall in our music video as we later on discussed as a group that the venue was not fit for the purpose.

9) "How are you going to make the two extremes link?('American dream' vs 'Mental institute')"

A- We will be changing our mise en scene, props and costume for both ideas. For our hospital scene will will use the bare minimum for costume and mise en scene as the simplicity and low/dim lighting should convey a realistic approach of a 'Mental Institute' and so the opposite of this would be bright lighting and more extravagant venues and costumes which will hopefully portray the 'American Dream'.

10) "Why has the female protagonist got control over her boyfriend?"

A- The reason for this is because of her 'animal' has got the best of her and is stereo-typically shown as putting themselves first and therefore dominating their relationship and slowly taking control of her boyfriends- making the male protagonist lightly vulnerable.

11) "Really like the idea and the inspiration video that you showed. How/where would you get the doctors equipment, e.g. needle, oxygen mask etc."

A- (Exaplained in Question 7)

12)"Are you following the narrative video compilation completely?
(Really like it!!)

A- Yes we will try and stick to our idea as close as we can however during any process there will be some trial and development in improvements and I think some changes will be made in the process of filming.

13) "How are you going to reveal the protagonists multiple personality disorder? love the video"

A- (Explained in Question 2&3)

14) "How are you going to approach such a touchy subject and not offend the audience?"

A- To not offend the audience, we will thoroughly research into the disorder and not imitate the stereotypical characteristics that they portray. 

15) "How do you plan on showing the projections?"

A- To show the projections we will either be layering and editing the footage of 'Photoshop' or film using a Literal projector.

16) "Have you done any research into 'Madness' as a taboo controversial subject?"

A- No, not yet as we wanted our audience to understand our initial narrative idea, but now we will find out more about Multiple Personality Disorder and it can be successfully portrayed.

17) "Love all of the ideas for the video! I especially love the idea of the bit of Gigi Hadid"

A- We understand now that the layering technique used in Calvin Harris's 'How deep is your love' is shown to be a good idea and therefore we are going to portray this into our own music video.

18) "We love the projecting images. Not sure about the school location. How would you show she has taken control?"

A- We will be showing this through the idea created in Taylor Swifit's 'Blank Space' and the religious concept of Adam and Eve and how Eve is controlling Adam with the apple projected in the music video and we will be using the photography studio for the house as we realised will look very unprofessional if we used the school hall (which was our initial idea).