Role Chart

Initial Feedback

In order to get this feedback we played our rough cut on a big screen in front of our classmates and teacher. They wrote down what they thought was good about it, and what they thought could be improved.




The main piece of feedback that came through from our classmates and teacher was that we had too many gaps in the video, which we were definitely aware of before the screening! Most people thought that the argument scene were we used a lot of fast cuts was well edited, however our teacher noticed that we had broken the 180 degree rule, something which we have to fix in the next 2 weeks.
The main scene that everyone seemed to like was the very end scene at the graveyard which we desaturated to make black and white. The feedback was that the imagery went well with the tone and pace of the music and story at that point. The scene where we created a shadow so we can see the girl pick petals of the rose went down well with our teacher, who said that we need to incorporate the rose into the video more.

Rough Cut

Making The Back of the Digipak

For the back of our digipak, I picked this photo that I took during filming as I think that it signifies everything that our video is about: heartbreak and destruction.
I started by using the magic wand tool to cut away the background to the image, and then dropped the opacity of the remaining image to around 30%, so it was faded but still visible. I decided to use a black background to in keep with my previous work on the digipak and of course the magazine advert so there is a distinct brand style.

I then duplicated this image until the entire canvas was filled with torn up roses. The idea was to create 'a bed of roses', which signifies love but can also signify death, for example with the saying, 'you've made your bed now lie in it.'

I used the same font that I used for the front of the digpak and on the magazine advert to keep the distinct brand identity so it can run throughout our 3 pieces of work.

Finally in order to make this back panel look as professional as possible, I needed to add in a barcode and logo's of the contributors of the album, like the record company and the band themselves.

Making The Front of the Digipak

For the front cover of our digipak we played about with all the images that we had taken throughout filming, but I found that most of our images had too much going on it them and would be confusing to our audience. We settled on this image as it is extremely simple and very striking.

All I had to do to improve this image was to bring the contrast up and the brightness down, and finally use the eraser tool (which I dropped the opacity of) to create a blurred edge around the photo so it blends into the black background.

Finally I simply added the name and artist of our album in small writing with the same font as I used on our magazine advert. I like that the title is small and at the bottom of the front panel as otherwise it would distract from the main striking image.

Magazine Advert Development

I selected a different font from the main text on the page to write the reviews of the album in. I made sure that it was not too different from the original font, and in the same handwriting-like style. I used the star rating as a simple way of rating the album.

I then took a photo of Claire that I had taken during one of our filming sessions, and pasted it into my photoshop document.

I used the magic wand and quick selection tools to cut out the background from around Claire's face, and then dropped the transparency to around 70%. I think this this creates a better eerie effect than if the image has maximum capacity as it looks like she is leaning out of the darkness.

I picked another 2 photos that I had taken during filming and again dropped the transparency of them. I used these 3 images to create a little montage around the main image of the rose, which I have kept as full transparency so it stands out form the rest if the images.

Choosing A Font

I used dafont.com to find an appropriate font for the magazine advert, as there was not not enough choice in the standard fonts that Photoshop provides.

I knew that because of the nature and content of our video, we needed something quite simple and almost gothic looking. I thought that having a font that looked like handwriting was really appropriate as in part of our video a suicide note os written. This combined with the fact our album is going to be called Cease To Begin made it obvious to me that this was the right way forwards.

After trawling through this website I found that these 4 fonts were the best that I could find.

Harabara Hand

You Won't Bring Me Down

Renaissance

Nothing You Could Do

I am going to use the font called 'You Won't Bring me Down' for the the album's title and perhaps for writing Band Of Horses.

Starting To Create The Magazine Advert

It is my job in the group to design and create the magazine advert for our brand, a job that I am happy with, because I think that is the job that suits me best as I am not very confident with using Final Cut Express which we use to edit the music video.

I will be using this photo, which I took during one of our filming sessions as the main image that will appear on our magazine advert.

First I used the 'photo edges' filter tool to change the image's appearance and then used the magic wand tool to cut out the part of the image that I wanted to use. Finally I desaturated the image and used the history brush tool to only keep the brightness of the rose in colour.

Once I had decided on the font I was going to use I added the name and artist of the album. Next I need to add on album reviews, record company/sponsors logo, and barcode.

Magazine Advert Research

In order to create my own magazine advert I need to look at existing adverts from current magazines.

This advert is advertising The Verve's new album, and instead of using the band themselves as the artwork they have opted for a stunning photograph of a cloudy sky. I think that this imagery alone will draw people's eyes instantly to it, and then the title leaps out at you in a large, block, black font. The fact that the image looks to have been filtered so it is sepia, makes it a lot easier for the designers to have added the text on top of that so it can be seen and read clearly. I would definitely like to use this type of image on my advert, so I can have one stand out image that leaps of the page at you, and then text around it as a secondary thought.

This advert for Basement Jaxx's album is very different from The Verve's, in that it is a lot more colourful, vibrant and 'in your face'. I think that this does work just as effectively as The Verve's advert as Basement Jaxx music is in a different genre to The Verve's music. Fans of Basement Jaxx would expect anything they do to be 'out there' and exciting, whereas The Verve's fans would not.

The whole idea of this advert is futuristic, with the background being a galaxy in space, and the font used is very slanted, block and well... futuristic. The fact that it has a monkey eating a leaf as the main image just shows how quirky the advert is trying to be, and that image in itself will definitely catch people's attention and draw a laugh at least!

I think the main thing that I will take from these two adverts for my own magazine advert is that I definitely need one main image on it that will instantly catch reader's attention when they are flicking through a magazine.

Looking at Digipaks in the Current Market

A more mainstream artist's album cover like Rihanna will generally just have her face as the main image. This image alone will work to sell her album, as her face is so instantly recognizable that people do not need to see anything else when deciding whether or not to buy her album. This is reflected through the fact that Rihanna's name is not even on the front of the album, purely the album name in a simple font. The vivid reds and purples in the photo also help the album jump out at people from the shop shelves.

I think that this album cover is very effective with its use of colours, which helps it stand out on a packed shelf. The background is very neutral and grey coloured, nothing of note is actually taking place there. Your eyes are instantly drawn to the 2 massive red and blue bits of cloth that are flying in the air. It is only once you look closer at the image that you realize they are actually huge capes that are being worn by 2 people. Although this image has absolutely nothing to do with the music it is representing, it helps to attract in potential buyers of the album through the stunning artwork on the digipak cover.

The Mumford & Sons album art is similar to the Biffy Clyro album art, in that it is not clear what relationship the image holds to the actual music of the band. As Mumford & Sons are an alternative band, it is clear that the album art is not going to be mainstream, like Rihanna's album cover image of just her face, as there is no single person that personifies the band for audiences.

I think that this album cover from an album by The XX is the most striking of the 4 that I have looked at, as the designers have been very brave and simply put a huge white X on a plain black background. However simple the cover seems it would actually be very effective at drawing people's eye to it on a packed shop shelf as I have never seen an album cover like it before. The X would almost instantly tell fans of the band who's album it is, and would interest others into picking up the album to find out.

I think that I would like to incorporate aspects from the last 3 albums that I have looked at:

- A striking photo on the front panel that instantly draws your eye to it

- Use only 1 or 2 bold colours in the images so that it does not look messy and cluttered