Molly Rickards (7111) - Promoting New Artists

One Direction is the perfect example  of a new band being promoted in a number of different ways.
Recognising who the target audience will be is the first step to promoting a new band. Clearly for One Direction the target audience is mainly teenage girls, all  of the merchandise made for the band has been made to appeal to the young female audience.

It is the norm at the minute for the majority of young people to have phones, a great way to promote the band is to make things which the audience can use/wear everyday, for this reason wristbands, bracelets and phone covers are great ways to promote a new artist or group.

Creating 'the look' is very important to create a strong appeal for a new band, I want to create a look which suits the artist and will appeal strongly to their audience.

Things like T-shirts, posters and gigs are also something often used when launching a new artist and so I will create some magazine adverts, posters and other merchandise for Daniel Shaw.

Molly Rickards (7111) - Album Cover research

This album cover for Walk the Moon is an abstract illustration, it is common for a band to feature on the front of an album cover whether it be illustrated or photographed, and this cover breaks this convention. I have chosen to look at this album cover as it has been made for an indie rock/pop band, which is the same genre as our song choice. The abstract style is a clear convention in this genre of music.

As our singer is a new artist and needs to be recognised for his new music career I will make the album cover with him as a feature on the front of it but I will take into account this abstract style.

The colours are very vibrant and the band name takes up a large space at the top, this is most likely for selling purposes as this will help people to find this on shop shelves. The cover looks very fun, this introduces the bands album as happy and enjoyable, I think the style and colour reflects the type of music on the CD.

This has influenced my ideas for my own album cover,  I want to create a very abstract styled cover but I also need to promote the name and appearance of the new artist. I will use an illustration style on the cover making it look cartoon and will use a large font on the front to promote his name. I am planning on using whites; browns yellows and oranges to create the cover as I think these colours will reflect the style of the video and will create an image for the new artist.

ConorDrury 7200 - Backside and Track Listing Research

 I decided to do some research into what needed to be on the back side of a digipak cover, I knew they included a song listing but it was good for me to research as I wasnt sure what else was included. On this example of an album by Mika i decided to focus on the natural font and bright colours used, this instinctvely gives the viewer the sense that the album will be cheary pop music, which it is. To apply this to my genre ive decided to stick to a very limited colour palette, to much the moody feel to most of the songs.

On the back of "Peaceful the world lays me down" by Noah and the Whale the text shows links to the bands various websites, it also states about the record label and gives some information about copyright infringement in subtle writing. To make my digipak look more authentic I will also include our companys logo and a barcode to increase the realistic look of the digipak.

ConorDrury 7200 - Track Listings

I have decided to come up with some track listings to include on my digipak to make it look more authentic, some of the song names will be existing songs by our artist, Jay Tyrer as an almost homage and thanks to him for letting us use his song.

• Intro
• Plastic Dreams
• Always Be There
• Without You
• Letting Go
• 7 More Hours
• Hometown Heartbreak
• Little Did You Know
• I Was Over You From The Start

ConorDrury 7200 - Initial Ancillary Cover Research

After doing some research into indie and retro iconography I stumbled across an image from one of my favourite films that I could use to create the retro link to my artist.

This image from the very iconic "Back to the Future" gave my the idea to include elements of 3d into my cover using the simple trick of layering translucent red and blue colourings. This will give me the oppurtunity of including a free item (pair of glasses) with the digipak. The style I plan to use will also allow me to work creatively with the types of typography for the track listings and also be able to create a unique poster aswell.
below ill include an example image of how I plan to use the 3d elements.

ConorDrury 7200 - Filming and Editing Diary

Molly, Luke and I are extremely pleased with how our music video is starting to turn out. We have completed the majority of our filming and editing and have organised to complete our filming this Wednesday.  Once completed we will organise showing the video to a group of people and getting their reviews and creative critique.

ConorDrury 7200 - Album Cover Research

After doing some research into various album covers from artists of a similar genre I discovered many of them used imagery of the artist themselves. To push boundries but also stick to the convention ive decided to use an image of my artist but not on the actual front cover, on the back and inside instead. This will persuade the consumer to actual pick up the digipak and open it rather than just scan it on a shelf. On the front I plan to include something very eyecatching and unique but also have subtle qualities of a retro feel, this can parralel the indie links we found whilst researching the genre for the music video.

ConorDrury 7200 - What's in a Digipak

After doing some research online i have worked out what is likely to be included in my Digipak. 

• six sides
• cd holder
• pictures
• track list
• cd name
• artist name
• label name
• label sign
• barcode

By including all of these different elements as well as experimenting with other things such as, free items included, similar to Katy Perry's Prism which includes a pack of seeds to each consumer in the USA who purchases the album. I could possibly design wristbands as they could easily be concealed in my digipak and are also another way of promoting the new artist.

An example of a Rihanna Digipak 

ConorDrury 7200 - Ancillary Research.

Digipak

Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD or DVD attached to the inside.

Since Digipaks were among the first alternatives to jewel cases to be used by major record companies, and because there is no other common name for Digipak-style packaging made by other companies, the term digipak or Digi-Pak^[2] is often used generically, even when the media holder is a hub or "Soft Spot"^[3] rather than a full plastic tray.

Digipak-style packaging is often used for CD singles or special editions of CD albums and the tall DVD Digipak (DVDigipak)^[4] is used as a premium package for DVDs and DVD sets. Such packaging is less resistant to abrasion than jewel cases, so it tends to show signs of wear relatively quickly. Licensed digipak manufacturers such as domestic U.S. printer and disc replicator Oasis Disc Manufacturing^[5] recommend coating the raw printed paper with a protective UV coating, thus ensuring greater longevity.

"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digipak"

Promotional Posters

I did some research into a variety of posters that have been used for either music videos and films and came across this website on how to create a great promotional poster. 

"http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011/02/7-elements-of-a-great-movie-poster-design/"

Clothing 

A good way of promoting new artist is through the use of tee shirts and clothing, for example by getting a clothing sponsorship you can be endorsed with the power that the larger clothing companies have.

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ConorDrury 7200 - Filming and Editing Diary.

Since my last post we have done a serious chunk of the work and are almost in sight of completing this segment of the project. We only have roughly 3 shots left to film and edit before our music video will be complete. We would like to thank Gary from Blueprint media who came in and taught us various new and exciting editing techniques.

Group Task - DigiPak Contents Ideas

This is a Potential poster that i have designed for the DigiPak, although it is pretty basic it is mainly to emphasis the artist himself. We feel as if this poster does just that, there is nothing to distract you from the artist, We aimed to make Daniel the main focal point on the poster.

This is a design we made for the Front cover of the DigiPak. I feel as if it draws in all the emotions that the song and artist is trying to portray throughout his music. It shows pain, pain and loss this is precisely what we were going for and we are very pleased with the way it turned out.

Group Task - Digipak Research

I am aiming to create an effective Digipak to go along side our artists music video (original -Jay Tyrer - Letting Go) and The artists social networking page. The Digipak will contain a CD and the conventional features of a Digipak, such as still images from the video, artist imagery, song lyrics and a DVD copy of the music video itself. By making a Digipak, I will be helping to promote our artist to a wider audience as-well as his current fans. I think it would also be a good idea to keep a constant theme running throughout the Digipak which will be linked to Love, Loss and Acceptance. This idea was influanced by varios other Digipaks we came across whilst researching. Overall I aim to produce a Digipak that is attractive, engaging and links to all the aspects related to the artist.

Obviously the original track is copy right free and I am using this to launch Daniel as a star image.

My digipak will include:

• CD album
• DVD showing the making of the music video 
• Digital download code 
• Posters 
• Still images 
• Track list
• Lyrics 
• Info booklet on the artist
• CD holders
• Money off Voucher for Merchandise 
• Wrist band with artist new and track name  

Conor Drury 7200, Molly Rickards 7111 - Rough Cut - Letting Go

As you can see we have started piecing together the shots from our first few film shoots. We feel we are moving in the right direction with the project but we still have a lot of work to do, including filming the rest of the shots and many hours of editing. 

Molly Rickards (7111) - Shoot 3 analysis and development

After putting some of the shots together to create the video so far it is coming on very well however I am going to experiment with some different techniques to see if I can create an interesting effect to give the video something different.

I have signed out a camera and tripod today to create a time lapse of the bridge in Wrawby, I want the images to show the headlights of the cars speeding past, this is to suggest the time passing by as the artist is "letting go.

I also want to shoot some performance images with Daniel, we are hoping to use Vale Academy hall to shoot some performative shots. We will use a spotlight so the image is focused on him, I want the lighting to look warm to create a hopeful feeling in the song- this shoot will take place on Wednesday 27th.

Molly Rickards (7111) - Following the shoot

Following the filming at my house I had a lot of cleaning up to do! The stuffing from the toy and the beans out of it made quite a mess!!!! The boys didn't hang around after making a mess, after they'd had a cuppa and a bacon sandwich they were on their way. But after having a successful shoot i didn't mind spending an hour tidying up, ready for the next shoot on Sunday and were all looking forward to finishing off the rough cut and seeing what it looks like!

ConorDrury 7200 - Risk Assessment

                         

ConorDrury 7200 - Day Two Shoot Review

"Today we managed to shoot many of the main shot videos. We began at 9 am where we had arranged to meet at Molly's house with all of our group and our main actor. We filmed many of the scenes including all of the house entrance scenes, the performance shots, the bracelet shots and some anger shots. we would like to thank Jemima Rickards for supplying food on the day and also to Mike Saxby and Sheila Ford for arranging transport."                                   

ConorDrury 7200 - The use of Timelapse in Music Video

Because we plan to use time lapse in our music video i decided to do some research into existing videos that use similar styles. The most successful video i found was this video for "Mozarts House by Clean Bandit"
The way they achieve these shots is by filming long sequences with the actors moving in slow motion, then speeding them up. We plan to use a similar style when editing our music video.

ConorDrury 7200 - Molly Rickards 7111 - Filming/Editing Progress

We began editing the clips that I filmed on wednesday 13th with our main male using final cut pro. Many of these clips will be used during our music video so we can judge that film shoot as a success. We learnt how to use different elements of Final Cut pro and were able to implement them here. I will upload some of the stills from the shoot and upload them to flickr to get a review of the images already taken. I may be able to use some of these images during my ancillary task later in the project.

We decided upon naming each of the different shots, this way when it came to adding them to the timeline we have a brief idea of where theyre supposed to go. I gave luke the job of naming them. We then used our training in Final Cut Pro to add some of the clips to the timeline. 

Group Task - Prop Gathering

So were nearly ready to get the house shoot done and out the way, all we need to do is gather the last of our props and were ready to go.

Props Needed:

Scrapbook - contain photos of the couple

Acoustic guitar - strapless

Female Clothes - indie style 

Fire + materials needed ( wood, Fuel, Lighter fluid, fire bin, Zippo Lighter )

Teddy bear - old so we can rip it apart

ConorDrury 7200 - Production Breakdown

"Because of our initial problems with filming we have rescheduled to film these series of clips on Wednesday and Friday."  

ConorDrury 7200 - Filming Schedule.

We have organised with our group and actors to continue filming on;

• Wednesday 20th November 

On this day we intend to travel to Wrawby and film a series of shots on the motorway bridge. We will also begin filming some of the main shots inside Molly's house, including the bedroom shots and shots of him walking into the house.

• Friday 22nd November.

On friday we will continue to film at Molly's house and film some of the filling shots that we can use as self reflection placeholders.

• Sunday 24th November

On our last scheduled filming shoot we will film all the fire shots. This will include the burning shots and the long fire shots.

Their might be a possible issue with our main female actress which might result in re-casting but we will address that issue when we know for sure.

Storyboards - ConorDrury 7200 , Molly Rickards 7111

       
 Storyboarding was a good way for us to communicate our artistic visions with each other and also to our actors, this allowed both us and them to have get a basic vision of what our video might look like.
It also allowed us to talk about different ideas such as editing and filters.

Molly Rickards (7111) - Logo

I have created a logo for our production label, after looking at other company names we decided to use something fun and usual as our production name. I have looked at successful company names such as YouTube and MTV the logo I have created is clearly influenced by the colour scheme of these two companies.

I have also noticed that many company names use icons to help the name become recognised, such as Lime Pictures and Paramount .

I have been influenced by each of these to create our own logo for our music video production.

Luke ford (7201) - Issues With Filming

The filming that was done on Wednesday the 13th of Novemeber  was not up to the standards that we wanted, the images taken where taken on a slant aswell as most of the filming, we have taken these mistakes into consideration and have decided that we need to improve communication and organisation within the group, we can afford to make these mistakes now but we will need much better planning for the future to stop this reoccurring.
              The group has discussed where we went wrong and why this happened, a lack of communication was the main issue at hand. this caused mixed views on the shots that were taken. we hope to learn form these mistakes and to improve in the near future.

Molly Rickards 7111- Call Sheets

ConorDrury 7200 - Company Name.

To make our product sound more authentic and professional we decided to come up with a name for our company, after debating about different possibilities we decided to use a random word generator to come up with our name.

http://www.textfixer.com/tools/random-words.php

Using this website we came up with the name "Ill System" we decided to make our name sound more professional so we finalised with "Ill System Productions" 

ConorDrury 7200 - Call Sheet Template

ConorDrury 7200 - First Day Shoot Review.

First Day Shoot Review

Our first day shoot was extremely unsuccessful, because of transport issues we were unable to film, however we have rescheduled with our main actor to start filming on Wednesday 14th of November. On the day we are planning to film a selection of the shots involving just the lead actor.

• Swing Time Lapse Shot.

To film this shot we will need to film an extremely long sequence. during this sequence we will have the artist sat on the swings. Then using final cut pro we will speed up the footage giving the footage an aesthetic quality and shortening the length of the clip.

• Bridge Time Lapse Shot.

We will do the same affect but on the motorway, hopefully, judging by Molly's experiments during the location shots, we will be able to get an exciting effect from the lights of the cars passing.      

• Various Walking Shot's.  

During a variety of our scenes we will need various walking shots, or shots of the actors legs and feet. whilst we are out wednesday i will take a selection of shots that we could use during editing or use as guidelines of what to film during.

Molly Rickards (7111) - Set for Shoot 1

For the first filming shoot I will transform these locations to make them look like a teenagers living area. 

I will use some clothes in the room and will set up a dressing table with a mirror on it, we will need to put some props in the room like a makeup bag, a teddy bear and a bracelet. 

For this location we will add some items which make the room look like a teens house with some props such as photographs, shoes and maybe some school books or folders. I am planning to use quite neutral colours in the set as apposed to bright colours (like the blue coat).

Molly Rickards (7111) - Props Mood Board

Here I have selected a variety of images to influence our props, we will have a look around charity shops for some items to use to fill the room and to help create the sets we would like. 

ConorDrury 7200 - Photo Idea

My idea about having a still photograph transform into a film shot is something, that if used correctly can be very successful to show memories or flashbacks. After writing my idea down a few weeks ago the video for "Story of my life" by One Direction was released. this essentially uses the same idea we were going to use.

ConorDrury 7200 - Day 1 Production Breakdown