Drafting and Planning: First Draft of Music Video

Here is the first draft of my music video. However it is missing 20 seconds of flashbacks at the end but this is the main drift of what my music video is to be. 

Research Into Similar Products/Drafting and Planning: New Order Editing

New Order recently released a video for their new single 'Singularity' and was very intrigued by some of the editing styles that I saw. The one that I liked the most was the one below: 




The way in which it flicks at a fast pace between the two clips is something I find very interesting and could be included during the flashing sequence to show the varying emotions between the two people. 

I have taken some shots of my actress showing three states of emotion. I have done this to show the varying emotions shown within the relationship and how it begins to deteriorate. I plan to use these shots during each flash as my actor leaves the blanket. 

Drafting and Planning: Re-shoot Footgage

I have now filmed my final set of footage for my music video. I really feel that this is better than the footage I previously lost as the shots are brighter and have more feeling in them. 

Rather than film these tracking shots separately like I have done in the past, I have filmed it as one continuous shot, which I feel is much better as it looks more natural and gives me the chance to break up the shot as much as I would like. 

Research Into Similar Prodcuts: Inner Tray

I have been looking at my CD collection again for ideas on how the inner tray can look and how it can still be consistent with the rest of the album.

The first two CD's from my previous post (Pretty Hate Machine & Plans) both have black trays and so that could be an option for my own inner tray as there doesn't have to be a design. I could use a different colour rather than black also.

 The inner tray used in Arcade Fire's 'Neon Bible' is quite interesting. It uses a series of different photographs in a reel type layout. It also adopts the colour scheme uses throughout the album design too. I really like this as it's interesting and give you various different things to look at.

The inner cover for The Cure's 'Pornography' album is one of my favourites and is an idea that I am considering adopting for my own. It features lyrics to two of the songs typed out in a typewriter style, on a red background which matches the colour scheme of the album design. I really like this idea as it reflects the importance of the lyrics to this album and is an interesting design.

Oasis use the same photo as the album cover for the inner tray of '(What's the Story) Morning Glory.' This is an idea I hadn't thought of before and is a cool way of keeping the album design consistent and simple.

Research Into Similar Products: Digipak Disc

To get a feel for what kind of designs bands use for their album trays, I have looked at the discs of some of the Cd's that I own to see what they have done.

For the album 'Plans' by Death Cab For Cutie, the design is rather simple. There is only the name of the album included on this as well as some record company information. This is quite a nice design as it simple and fits in nicely with the colour scheme of the rest of the album design.

 The Nine Inch Nails tray for 'Pretty Hate Machine' is quite different from the Death Cab For Cutie one. This tray uses the same bright colours featured on the rest of the album design and features the track listing as well as the band name and album title. This is quite a nice design as it makes the track listing really clear and easy to find, especially as it's featured on the back cover too.

'The Downward Spiral', also by Nine Inch Nails, is rather interesting. It uses a spiral pattern which fits with the title of the album. However it features very little information on it, not even the album name. This simplistic design is nice as it doesn't detract attention from the rest of the art used for the album and is still coherent too.

I also decided to look at how the design for the inner tray of a double album would look. For this I looked at The Smashing Pumpkins 'Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness' album. The two designs for the disk mirror the names of each disk. The first disc is named 'dawn to dusk' and features a happy face with bright colours to reflect this. The second disc is named 'Twilight to Starlight' which features a sad face with blue colours to reflect the melancholy mood. Both of these designs are in keeping with the designs of the rest of the album and are abstract and eye-catching. They also feature only the title of the disc so keeps the focus on the images.

Research Into Similar Products: Album Title & Album Covers

After looking at various different album covers, I have come to realise that the album title is not always included on the cover. Some album covers only feature the band name which could offer me a different approach for my album layout. 
Some of the most memorable albums do not feature the album name, and some do not even feature the band name, such as Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures. This gives full attention to the image featured on the cover which could add to the album covers memorability. 

There are also many albums that feature only the band name. Albums like Van Halen's 1984 is such an album. The cover is very well known and by only featuring the band name, it associates the memorable image with the band. 

 

However, Bombay Bicycle Club on their albums always include both album name and band name on their albums, so to keep to their philosophy, I will include both. 

To include both features on the album title, I could use a similar layout to that used by the Talking Heads in which they use blocks. I really like this layout as it offers a lot of attention for the main photo of the cover. 

Research Into Similar Products / Drafting and Planning: More Reshoots

After losing the footage on my SD card, I now have to reshoot the latest footage that I had acquired. Despite how unfortunate this is, this is has given me the chance to reflect on my footage and how I can do it better next time.
In this time I have realised that the tracking sequence I intended to have wouldn't actually look right when put together.

Therefore I have decided that to make it work better, I will include some tracking shots of the feet walking towards the camera as well as some shots of objects that could signify decay. For this shot I could use stuff such as dying flowers or dandelions to show something that was once beautiful which is now gone. This kind of thing has been done in various music videos such as Lana Del Rey's latest music video 'Freak'.




I could also use this idea throughout the rest of my video too to break up some of the shots and make it less concentrated on the two actors and appreciate the surroundings a bit more, as well as adding a bit of variety in what you see to the video.

Drafting and Planning: Flashback Footage

My actors have filmed some more footage on their trip to Ikea. This was a nice idea as it is rather romantic and corresponds to the movie '500 Days Of Summer,' therefore keeps the romantic feel to the flashback section. I like these videos as they are cute and natural. 

Research Into Similar Products: Single Cover - Saint Raymond

Saint Raymond released his track 'Come Back To You' as a single and the single cover is very nice. It offers an interesting text placement and use of colour. 

I really like how the photo is zoomed in and rather close up as it shows the closeness between the people involved. A feature that I was planning to use on my own album cover has been used as a blue filter has been used with this image. I really like this blue as it is has a hint of green in it, therefore making it a more interesting choice. The placement of the text on this cover is something I had not considered. By placing it in the middle, it is clear who and what the track is and the white font compliments the blue filter nicely. From this, I have decided to use a white font as it is clear and has been it evident to me, that it would compliment a blue filter which is what I planned to use. 

Reseach Into Similar Products: Album Back Cover Layout - Talking Heads

After looking at a few Talking Heads albums, I have seen a layout that I quite like. The back of the album 'Remain In Light' is something that really appeals to me and could definitely work for me.

The way in which the band name and track listing both have their own little block is something I quite like. It makes it clear who the album is by and makes the photo used memorable. Therefore the image is not clouded with text and spoiled by it. I will adopt a similar layout for my own album as I find this very appealing and gives the image it's own space.

Research Into Similar Products: Magazine Advert - Manic Street Preachers

Now that I have taken the photos and have started to put together my digipak, I have decided to start looking at how I can layout my advertisement. An advertisement that really stuck out to me was one for Manic Street Preachers.

I really like this advert as the album cover itself, as well as the title and band name, take up the majority of the space on this poster, therefore it's clear what is being advertised. It's also really consistent when looking at the colour scheme, as even the blue/green colour used on one line of text is present in the image used. All the text featured is also brief and too the point and even features a place where you can buy the album from.

When making my own, I think that I will use a similar layout as I feel it is really clear as to what is being sold and looks coherent.