Poster number 2!

To go with our new digipak images we have also made a new poster, this was quite simle to make - like our first attempt - but it's a lot more bold and proffesional looking. 

Youtube Feedback!

We put our final cut of the music video on youtube and got two really good comments. The main faults are things that we know about but can't change. We spent a really long time trying to sync the video but because of Chloe not knowing the lyrics and overacting we can't. We did consider re-shooting the clips that weren't great but we can't because Chloe has dyed her hair bright yellow and although some artists do that and have different looks in different shots, we didn't feel it would look right with her looking the same all the way through exept for these few shots. Unfortunately we will have to leave these faults as they are.

Album back cover!

We created the backgound in the same way as we created the front, with the 'Render' tool. We then changed the font of the tracklist to make it more simple and nothing fancy. We decided it looks better without a picture on the back, to leave it just simple and have the front as the main focus. We have also added the barcode etc in at the bottom.

Front Cover number 2!

After such negative comments on our first attempt at making an album cover we tried again, we looked at Adele's album covers again to see how we could make our photographs more like hers. This is the picture we chose to work on;

We had to select just Chloe from this photo, we did this by using the magic lasso tool, it worked really well with this picture. We then opened a new tab and started on the background. This had to be a certain size for it to be right for an album case. We then went onto the 'Artistic' tab and selected the effect 'Render' - an effect that only works on small peices like these - this tool allows us to put in a background so that it looks as though there is a spot light shining. You can change the direction of the light, and the amount of light, whether it be the brightness, the width or the amount of 'spolights' you require. Following this we added the picture of Chloe and turned it into black and white. We then change the contrast of the image so that the colour were really strong, properly black and white, not shades of grey. This made it look as though the light was shining on her face. We then added the title in and her name, in the same was as Adele does - her name in white with the title of the album in red - the red is good because it resembles the poppies. This is the finished product;

Poster Feedback!

We made a poster for the marketing of our album. It was quite simple to make, just adding all of the different elements in - no effects were used to make it. It's very plain and simple;

The feedback wasn't great, but it wasn't unexpected. The problems are that the album cover is very small and not the main focus of the poster. The colour is very drab and apart from the name of the artist, all of the writing blends into the background with it all being white.

CD Incerts!

 We edited another of our photos for the insert - another part of the digipak - we found an effect called 'Diffuse Glow' - We like this image but it does look a little plain because her face isn't funny visible and her hair is just clipped up. But after we added this effect it really made the picture look more alive.

We selected this picture, on Adobe Photoshop. We then went through the same process with this image as we did with the previous image we used for a possible front cover. We clicked the 'Artisic' tab again, but this time we went onto 'Deffuse Glow' and moved some of the controls untill we acheived a look that we liked.

Following this we added a background into the picture. Which means we had to cut this one out. This is quite difficult but theres a magic lasso to help with that. However, sometimes the magic lassoo misses bits out or takes away parts that need to be left in - when this happens we have to help it along.

We hae also made another possible insert. With this one we have continued with the poppy theme from the video. We downloaded an image of a Poppy but we couldn't just use this for a couple of reasons; it wouldn't be our work - it would be someone else's. Plus it was a full image with the sky and clouds in the background;

So we cropped the picture so that it's jsut the poppy and turned it into a PNG file and this is what we got:

Obviously we couldn't just leave it like this, so we made a picture out of it. We just coloured the background and then we added multiple poppies to it and wrote the word 'Outback' across one corner.

Back cover/Tracklist!

We also remembered that we needed to make a back for the case. This needs to include many different things, mainly the tracklist. Now we don't have any other tracks so we made up the names for several songs to put on the back;

However, this is quite boring, so we needed to put some colour on it and possibly a picture. So we got a patterned background and added this tracklist to it. It still looked a little plain so we got a still of Chloe playing guitar from the video and added that on too. I was a little unsure about this because it's not the image that I had in my mind, but we can see what everyone thinks about it.

Album cover feedback!

We asked around a few people to see what they thought of our cover. Here are the things they thought needed improving;

• The picutre doesn't really stand out, with it all being one colour is's a bit boring.
• It doesn't have the same powerful effect that Adele's have.
• The writing is a bit boring too, none of it really stands out and it's not very clear what it all says.
• It's just a bit dull really. It needs livening up a bit.

We are going to try and make all of the improvements that people suggested. When this is done it will hopefully look a lot more profesional, will be more like Adele's work generally is and it won't be dull.

Photo editing!

We chose this photograph to edit first. And to start with, we need to make it black and white - the first step to making it like Adele's.

To do this we are using another peice of Adobe softwear, called 'Adobe Photoshop CS4'.

To edit this picture, it's a rather simple process. Just following each step. This is the process we went through with thi picture;

To start, select the image you want and select the tab at the top of the page, labelled 'layers' and in this list there's an option to put a black and white layer over the top, select that. This is how the image looks after  this first step. There are many different options in this section, and lots of different effects you can put on with the layer tab.

This image shows the process of adding a neon glow to the image, we found this while experimenting with all of the effects. To start with we selected 'Filter', then 'Artistic' and then 'Neon Glow'. At this point the picture opens in a new window and the black and white filter dissapears. In this case, the photo went back to it's original appearance until we had selected the effect we wanted. This time that was 'Neon Glow'

This is how the image looks after the effect has been added. On the right side of the screen there are some controls so that we can decide how much we want the picture to glow and how strong it is. We can decide what colour we want the glow to be and how clear the picture is. We pretty much left it as it was with the ready set amounts. We did experiment but this seemed to be enough.

After the effect was added this is the finished product. We are going to edit parts of it to make it look more like the front cover of a CD.

This is the next stage, for starters we cut the image down to the size of the Album cover. This also solved another little problem we had; when we put the glow onto the picture it made Chloe's arm/sleeve look a little strange, so when we trimmed the image it cut that problem off. We still need to add little bits to the image to make it like a front cover; such as the album title, artist name etc.

Here are the results of our experimenting with the title and artist name etc. We have tried two different names, both of which are in different fonts. One is 'Treasure' and the other is 'Outback'. We also put another layer over and made the image a bit more sepia than just plain black and white.

New Photos!

One afternoon when we were free, we went into one of the lecture theatres - because all of the walls are plain white - and took some photos of chloe. I did her make up in a style more like adeles, kind of blue smokey eyes with the rest of her face pretty natural with a little bit of light foundation and powder. We didn't want to to look too make up or false. I also did her hair and just curled her hair in at it's ends, it's nothing special but it's not just flat. Here are some of the unedited pictures;

Chat about the photoshoot!

We had a chat about the photoshoot that chloe did, and we don't think that we will be able to use any of the photos. So as soon as we can we are going to re-shoot them and make them a lot more ideal. We thought she perhaps could wear something more bright, like possibly a floral tea dress or just someting that's not black.

We also considered shooting the photos where we did the filming, and Towneley seemed like the best option because it's so picturesc and it's where most of our footage is.

The only thing is, we are using Adele as our inspiration and her pictures are more like shadowed close ups of her face. Not full, scenery shots.

Here are a few examples of Adele's work;

 

Adele always has very neutral make up which is veru natural looking and the majority of her pictures are in black and white with the title of her album in a certain colour. We will try and acheive the same or similar look with chloe.

Photoshoot number 1!

We have been really struggling to find time to do the photoshoot because we are all getting so much coursework from all different subjects. So one day when Chloe was free she was seeing her friend and decided to do the photoshoot between them. We didn't know about thi untill she turned up on the monday and showed them to us, after she had edited them on the softwear she has at home. Here is a selection of the photos she took with her friend and the one that she edited to be the front cover;

These pictures aren't right for what we need because they are really gothic. With the make up being so dark and so heavy, it just doesn't go with the look of the video. The dress she is wearing is also wrong because it just adds to the gothic feel of the pictures. If the hair and make up was different then the dress may be ok. These images don't go with our video at all so we are planning on re-shooting them soon.

Good and Bad album covers!

To help with the making of our digi packs, we decided to look at some existing ones to see what works in the industry and what doesn't in different genres.

Pop;

One Direction - This album cover is a good example for a pop album cover because by the picture of the boys we can see that they look happy, like theyre having fun - so you automatically assume that the album will be fun, lively songs. As far as the layout goes, it's very simple. Just a photo of the band having fun. The band name is very clear across the top, the black writing contrasting with the pale blue background. Their logo is also very prominent. With the logo being on the top of album and single covers, people will recognise it whenever they see it in future on any other merchandise they release.

Christina Aguilera - Personally I don't think that this is a very good album cover. Theres no image of the artist apart from the image of an eye which may not even belong to the star. The name doesn't really stand out, the colour blends in with the image, unless you are viewing it up close. The name of the album has the same problem in my opinion. None of the images really go together either. The word 'Fighter' is generally used as a strong, powerful phrase but here it doesn't resemble it's normal meaning. The same goes with the main picture, it doesn't really go with the name of the Album.



Classical;

Katherine Jenkins - now this is a bad example of a classical album cover. For starters, the image doesn't look like her, so it wouldn't make someone recognise her instantly. Adding to this the photo of her looks like it would be a bit more fitting for a possible pop video. Following this, there's no difference between the name of the album or the name of the artist. With the writing being in white, it blends in with the picture of her face. Theres nothing particularly eye catching about this cover and it doesn't really look classical either.

Katherine Jenkins - This album is by the same artist but looks completely different. This is a good example of a Classical album. It's very elegant. We can see she is wearing a nice evening dress, decorated with pearls and diamonds. Her make up and hair again are very elegant and quite natural looking. And although the name of the album and her name are the same colour and are in white, it is very clear what's what. Her name stands out because it' all in capitals and a different font to the name 'Sacred Arias'. If someone was to see this in a shot or surrounded by lots of other albums, this would stand out and be more obvious that it's her.


R'n'B 

Rihanna - This is a perfect cover for this genre, I think. The black and white is quite powerful, especially with the colour of her name, right across the the middle. The way her name has been placed makes it really eye catching, and it's clear that that is the name of the artist, and that's the most important aspect of the picture. The title of the album is still eye catching, even though it's so small and simple, with it being in which infront of such a dark background. I also feel it looks just right for an R'n'B album, with her look and the whole look of the cover.

Rihanna - Again, I have used the same artist here. This is a very bad example of an R'n'B album cover. It looks very gothic and not like Rihanna at all. The image doesn't include the artist's name anywhere, just the first enitial of it. Which because that's not how she's known, it's not instantly recognisable as her. Especially with this picture of her, the way she's holding her face, with heavy black make up. It just not how Rihannah is known. The title of the album is also very unclear, unless you looks closely you barely see it at all.

Part 2!

Now that we are getting quite far on with our video we are starting the second part of our project. We have to do a photoshoot and make a poster and digi pack - this is all part of the marketing. The digi pack is the CD cover and tracklist for the back of the case, it also includes the little book - generally just photographs and occassionally lyrics. I do have a rough idea what would work for this part of the coursework. I think we will do them using Adele's work as inspiration and make them quite a lot like hers so that they fit with the video.

First cut feedback!

We have a finaly cut of the music video sorted. We know there are some alterations that need to be made, but we want to get feedback on the work we have done so far, such as the narrative - if it works or not, the shots and angles - if people think it has worked or not. We put it on youtube and then onto Facebook and Twitter.

Here is the link for youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2x-aM7SOtzg

This is the feedback we got off Facebook;

Uploading and Editing!

We uploaded all of our footage from onto the computer and started going through all the different clips and different shots we did to see what has worked and what hasn't so that we can delete all of the extra footage we don't need or can't use.

The programme that we're using to edit our footage is Adobe Premiere Pro. I used this once before at the start of the first year for my Film coursework, I made the opening to a Slasher movie. I also used a similar softwear for my AS Media coursework, because I did it on my own laptop with their not being enough computers for everyone in sixth form. I made another film opening - this time for a drame. The programme I used was still Adobe premiere but it was Elements, not Pro. However, Adobe Premiere Pro is a great softwear to use because it has so many effects for us to use, from different transitions to cutting tools. It's quite an easy piece of equipment to use and acheive the effect you want.

We got all the footage down, it still needs work and needs syncing properly but theoretically we don't need to do anymore filming now.

Here are a selection of screengrabs from the editing process;

This image shows all of the footage down on the timeline and it also shows us adding in a cross desolve to a clip. The cross disolve is a transition which is placed between two joining clips to softly fade one into the other instead of just a sudden cut.

This image shows just simple editing, we haven't used any effects yet on this clip. We have just cut it and placed it where we see fit.

This is the same as the previous image, it has no special effects but it is one of the most difficult part in the editing process. Because we have to sync it and get it exactly right or it makes it really obvious that she's miming. We did have a slight problem with this shot because Chloe sang it a little faster than the song, so we had to slow little bits of the footage down to try and sync it bette. This wasn't easy though because if we slowed it down too much then it didn't look right so we had to get it just right.

Here we were putting the footage of Chloe's performance shots onto the timeline and trying to sync the mimed guitar playing with the music.

At this point we were considerably further on in the editing process that some of the previous shots. We had got this clip to the right speed to fit the song and it was properly syncd.