Production Logo

This is the first draft of our production logo. I created this design on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator and thought that it was quite minimalistic and smart. We have talked about animating the logo to make it seem more unique and we have decided to try this out using Motion which is a program that lets you animate images. The problem with this is that neither me or Jodie have used Motion before so we will have to experiment with this. So over the next couple of days we will experiment with using Motion. We wanted to animate our logo because we have been influenced by other production logos and they all have there own unique features. Below is a YouTube video that we watched which contains examples of production company logos.

Screenshots from Editing

 

Group Meeting 24/11/2011

We spent the rest of todays lesson trying to finish off our editing and adding in effects. We used this one effect called Bad Film, which created an old looking, jumpy sepia effect. For example

Normal

With Effect

Although there isn't much of a difference, the effect works better whilst animated and contrasted with the performance footage which we decided we are not going to use the "Bad Film" effect on. We did this because we thought it gave the narrative a unique look and the audience could tell when the narrative parts kicked in.

Now we are going to look at ways to change the exposure and make the clips look as if they were at night time. We had a discussion and decided that if we changed it and it didn't have the right effect we would scrap that idea and think of another way to enhance the "Day to Night" theme.

News on the Digipak and Website is that after creating some developed designs for our digipak, we have been looking at wix.com's website themes so that we could find ways to match the up somehow, a lot like bands, You Me At Six and All Time Low have done.

Website Draft

Before we start our website we are going to design a draft on we we think would work well. We are doing this before looking at any templates on wix.com and before we take any photos for the design.

Website Requirements - Jodie

Before we start drafting for our website, I have decided to create a mindmap overlooking everything we have to consider including in our website. We have gotten influences off of several similar bands for their oficial sites.

Website Requirements - Jack

In preparation for constructing our website I decided that I would create a mind map that would explain all the required pages or items we would need to add to our website in order for it to compete with similar band websites. I also list all the websites have given me influence when constructing our own.

Developed ideas

After looking at our ideas, I took a few photos onto photoshop to edit them so they matched one of our designs. When we come to our final design, we wouldn't use these photos as they don't have that professional look. To develop this further I would sort out their poses so that they were all holding an instrument and pulling serious faces.

Our other idea didn't really work so well....

So I changed around the sections to get this

I then used an effect on Photoshop called Threshold

And then Jack experimented with it

 I added an overlay to get this design which
 both Jack and I prefer out of these designs

I then used the first idea and added the multicoloured effect over it. 

I then looked back and got rid of the backdrop with the help of jack and his illustrator skills

Jack picked out the monochrome effect and it works much better

I preferred this multicolour effect to the other one

Digipak drafts

These were a few ideas we had whilst thinking of digipak designs. 

Jack's draft

Jack's draft

Jodie's draft

Jodie's draft

Group Meeting 21/11/2011

Our lesson today was spent carrying on with the editing of our music video. We decided on a few effects we were going to use and experimented around with it. We also worked on the section of our music video where the music drops. We originally had several different shots where the music wasn't playing but after getting feedback from our mentor and some peers we decided to change this so it was one elongated shot we thought this the best option as there was no beat to match the clips to. We then we thought about adding effects to this section. We also discussed designs for our digipak and what kind of fonts we are going to use.

Analysis of a Digipak - Jack

I am analysing Frank Turners digipak called Love Ire & Song. This digipak was released in 2008 and is a 4 cover digipak which is practical because this means that it isn't to complicated to understand whereas some other digipak cases fold out several times and these can be more venerable to damage and tearing. This is an aspect that might influence our digipak. This digipak includes the CD and a lyric booklet, it doesn't include anything else which cuts down on confusing also says something about both the artist and the target audience which is that they live life simply.

This the front of the digipak and as you can see it has a simple layout which contains the name of the digipak the name of the artist and also a picture of the artist. Again this aspect reflects on the artist which is that they only care about there music. The font of the cover is simple to read and very clear and simple. 

This is the inside of the digipak and you can see it is presented with both images and text. The images represent and say something about the artist because they both include music instruments and this suggests that he is very focused on his music. Along the bottom of both images are lines from his songs this gives you an in site into his music even before you have started listening to the album.

Photos taken by Jodie 

Group Meeting 17/11/2011

We held a group meeting as soon as we arrived in school today. We talked about what other tasks we needed to complete before the deadline. We also discussed the rest of the editing that we where going to finish by the end of the day. We said that we would cut and arranged all the performance shots by the end of the working day. After this we discussed the ancillary products that we have to design for the band. We have already started looking into the design of our digipak and we decided that we would progress with this by starting to create designs for our album cover. We then got to work on both of these tasks.

The Positives And Negatives Of The Shot

Jack's Positives 

• We had planned our timings right by this I mean we started shooting when the sun was raising (6:00am) and we ended the shot when the sun was going down (4:30pm). This means that we got a whole day of shooting and managed to get all of our shots both performance and narrative done and this has cut down the editing process considerably because we can start sooner. 
• Another positive about the day of the shoot was that we did have all the equipment that we needed so that we weren't constricted as to what we could shot. We made sure that we had all the equipment by creating separate lists for both actors and crew so they knew what they had to wear and also bring to the shot. We also contacted them a day before and confirmed details like what time we where collecting them and also that they knew what they where wearing. This aspect is important because by having already organised the actors and ourselves we where prepared when got to the location so we got set up straight away. 
• We also structured our shot well to, we did this by organising all the individual shots we needed so that we could shot them all efficiently and so that we weren't rushing about wasting time. We organised all the shots by having our shot list printed out with us and then from this we could tell what shots we needed to get first in a certain location and then where we needed to move to next.
• Our actors were also in a fairly good mood, They knew the song well and our lead singer Liam was comfortable with the lyrics but only regularly did he forget where he was whilst carrying out an action.
• We had prepared for basically everything, batteries dying, tapes running out so when these things came to happen we handled it well, so everything went smoothly in that sense.

Jodie's Negatives

• Although the weather was nice this was a drawback for us as we were trying to find areas of the heath that were shaded form the sun so that we could film as if it were night. we found this quite challenging since each master shot we took we had a selection of sun and sky and when filming some parts we had to shield the sun from the actors so we didn't have the trees shadow reflected on the instruments or on the actors.
• Another Negative was that there were public people wandering around the heath on dog walks so when we went to one location and people walked past we had to wait until they were out of the shot. They were however not a distraction to the actors whilst filming and the people were very polite and steered clear of where we filmed. 
• One thing we did underestimate was how hard it was to fit the drum set in one car so this made us take 2 trips from the heath back to danny's house which wasn't far so it didn't cause much of a hastle, however after finishing shooting we were able to fit the entire drum set into Jodie's car who then took that back while Jack waited at the heath car park with the actors and the rest of the equipment.

After finishing filming, we believe it was a successful day as we got all the footage we needed and most things went smoothly. We now know that if we have to film anymore footage for the music video how to prepare for the worst and how to avoid spoiling the clips.

Group Meeting 14/11/2011

After a successful shoot yesterday we have lots of editing to look forward to in the next couple of weeks! We have scheduled days where we come to the media room and work on editing the clips to fit the song. Today we have been spending our time cutting and uploading clips and batching them. Since this is a long process we have been busy with other tasks whilst the clip uploads to the computer so its available for us to edit on Final Cut.

We have also been busy discussing our Digipak analysis as we prepare to create our own for our band. We have looked at how we are going to set out our album cover and also what our influences are. We have also discussed our webpage as the one we are going to create needs to be practical yet have unique features that will draw in our target audience.

On The Day

Just a few images from the shoot...

After taking a  first shot, we gave the band some stage direction on how to come across on film.

We kept the amp near the camera so when it came to editing, we were able to hear the song playing.

We provided the band with snacks and drinks all through the shoot.

As you can see we filmed against the sun so we didn't risk having the sun in the frame.

We chose to film at this location first as it was nearer to the car park and was quite secluded

We did come across a few technical difficulties whilst changing the exposure

Since the sun was hitting the drum set, I offered to shield it with charlie's coat. We ended up using this technique quite abit.

We took it in turns to film both handheld and on the tripod adding in different types of effects.

This area fitted well for soe of the close ups as it was very secluded and had no people walking by and ruining the shots

The band enjoyed watching and encouraging the actors perform

Lizzie preparing for her role as the femme fatal.

Photos Taken by Lizzie and Jodie