Magazine Advert Final

This is our final magazine advert. The idea for this was a joint effort from everyone in our group. In order to produce it we took ideas from everyone's original ideas. As you can see, we have incorporated parts of each team members advert into our final product.

We have used a consistent font throughout all of our products, this is good because it links all of the media texts together. It gives a sense of intertextuality. The font on our magazine advert is good because it also links in with the theme of our music video, whilst also challenging stereotypical conventions of this genre.

The image used in the background was one that we took during one of our shoots, it is an action shot that looks as though Connar is walking away from the camera. It is effective as it makes our audience want to see more, and therefore effectively advertises our music video. Also by the image being very open, it leads the audience to want to know more, enhancing them to go and watch the music video. This therefore makes the image a very good one to use on an advert as it does make people want to watch the music video.

We have included other key information on the advert, this includes the website address, iTunes logo and the record label for our artist logo. By including all of these it makes the advert look very professional. It adds a sense of realism. Based on audience feedback we did change these from the original version, we were told that originally they were too big and needed to be reduced in size, therefore we took this into account and made them a lot smaller. This is the final product, once audience feedback had been considered and changed.

By Jack, Calum, Rhys and George

Digipak Final

 

This is the final product we have created for a Digipak. We stuck with our original theme of the woods and forest which have been incorporated into our plans and featured in our actual music video. We did this because it created connection between our music video and ancillary products. We used abstract shapes around the front cover title because after researching the genres album art it was a common denominator. We used pictures of our characters on the Digipak so that it portrayed the importance of the characters to the music video.

By Rhys, Jack, Calum and George

Final Cut: Trials of the Past Music Video

This is our final cut of our music video. We have added in various different things based on personal opinions and also based on feedback received from our target audience.

The first noticeable difference between our final version and the initial two cuts, is that the use of black and white is more purposeful, we changed this based on audience feedback. Prior to this, the effects had been used very sporadically and that meant that the audience did not really understand why it was being used. The main reason for the black and white is to distinguish between reality and dreams. The black and white connote this to the audience and as a result the audience can understand what is happening.

Also in this version we have a lot more location shots, again this was based on audience feedback from the first two versions that we had done. The audience wanted to see more of the location, this was beneficial to us and the audience because it meant by doing this we could build on strengthening the narrative to make it obvious what was happening throughout, all the way until the end of the music video. The location shots also meant that we could show off our camera skills, we have used a range of shots, long shots, close ups and even establishing shots of the moon with the trees in the way.

Another difference is that we have added another character. This was quite a large change that we considered late on. The reason for adding the second character is that we had to add more depth to our narrative rather than just having one character who may be lost and can't find his way home. Adding a second character really aided our narrative and made our whole video more interesting and captivating to watch. We did away with the fatal ending which we thought was too severe and not shot properly and incorporated the idea of a recurring dream instead. We are pleased with our final cut and like the way it has come out.

By Jack, Rhys, Calum and George

Rough Cut 2

This is our second rough cut. After receiving feedback from our first rough cut we amended some of the things that were wrong in our music video. However, there are still some things which need to be changed and we need to film more footage to add to the narrative of the music video, to make it clearer.

Feedback 

 Teachers

Concept and narrative aren't clear - doesn't show an "excellence in shooting material" 

Needs to include more location shots to emphasise where he is throughout the video 

Needs to show a closer attention to Mise-en-scene

More continuity - needs to be either walking or laying 

Include the concept of the recurring dream

We decided to get feedback from teachers separately as well as peers because then we would have more detailed feedback so our next rough cut could be as good as possible. 

Students

I like the mixture between black & white and colour shots, although there could be even more black and white

The ending could do with improving as being hit by a car seems unrealistic

Some unwanted audio is still there - you can hear somebody say "do it slowly yeah"

It may be a bit far fetched but you could include another character to make the narrative clearer

The feedback from students, paired with our feedback from teachers has given us more detail to work on.

By Jack Jolly and George Martin

Rough Cut 1

This is our first rough cut of our music video. As our first attempt there are some things which need rectifying however I am pleased with how much footage we have managed to include and our use of lip sync footage. There are some things which need to be addressed which have been notified to us buy our feedback representatives.

Feedback

The video needs to be longer as it suddenly cuts off during the song.

Some of the lip syncing is slightly out of time, making it unbelievable that the character is the artist.

The black gaps in between clips need to be filled in.

It would be easier to understand if there was a clearer narrative - is there a defined ending or is the video just going to end ambiguously?

There is a shot early in the video where a car can be seen passing in the background - this makes it seem unrealistic as why else would he spend the rest of the video trying to make it out of the woods.

There needs to be greater continuity in the colouring of clips, as the actors skin appears to be darker in some shots than others.

We are going to take on this feedback and amend the things which have been suggested.

By Jack Jolly 

Final Props Decisions

Despite initially planning to not incorporate any props into our video (we believed that the setting of the woods would make it unrealistic), we eventually decided to incorporate some props in order to present a more obvious relationship between the two characters shown. These props were added in between the second and final cut of our video, as this is when we received the feedback that it would be a stronger video if a second character was included. The two props we decided to incorporate were a mobile phone and a wedding invitation, and both are included around the same time within the video in order to present the close relationship between the two characters.

The mobile phone is effective because it shows a picture of the two characters together, which is clearly an old picture - this adds a huge amount of narrative focus to the video because it shows the audience that there is some sort of history between the characters. In addition to this, we decided to include this prop as it meant a change in shot composition as almost all of the other shots are either focused on a character or on the scenery surrounding the woods. It is also a much brighter shot than nearly all of the others within the video, meaning that it provides a break from the otherwise incredibly dark video.

The other prop we used, the funeral pamphlet, helped us to add to the dark and scary ambiance of the video. This is because it connotes that the second character in the film is already dead, thus linking with the lyrics of the song which are all about ghosts and the past. Without incorporating this prop there would have been little linking the visuals with the music, which again would have greatly affected the narrative of our video.


Overall, I believe that these choices of props are effective and will help to give a much stronger narrative aspect to our video, along with providing us with a wider range of shooting material.

By George Martin

Shotlist for digipak

Our digipak will require real images that we have taken ourselves. This means that I need to create a shotlist for the images that will be used.

The digipak consists of 6 panels so each panel will require a different shot. We are also using some black backgrounds which will not distract from the text of the tracklist and record labels etc.

This is an example of the sort of image we will be taking. I think it is best to take a photograph of the forest in which we are filming so the locations connect and then our products will also connect.



Another example of the image we want to use is our star in the middle of the forest, our idea is to shoot it from behind so that you cannot see his face, this adds to the enigma, ambiguity and mystery of the digipak.

Shotlist

1st shot: The first shot will be of the forest in an establishing shot. This is for the back cover and potentially some of the inside of the digipak.

2nd shot: The second shot will be of our actor standing in the woods with his back to the camera. This will be an establishing shot also because his whole body will be in the image.

3rd shot: Another idea we had was a close up of our actor but with shadowing on his face for the front cover. We thought of this because it is something different so we have options to choose from. We could do this with a torch.

4th shot: We are going to shoot a distorted image of just our actors body parts separately and then put them together in different places of the image. This will also require photoshop but it is a good idea for a front cover because it is ambiguous as well.

5th: The final shot we could use is the close up of a tree, perhaps from a low angle to show the tree progressing up to the leaves. The low angle gives a distorted feel to the shot and connects with our theme.

This shotlist will be useful when taking the photos for the digipak. I will have this with me when shooting the digipak for guidance.

By Jack Jolly 
 

Shotlist for magazine advert

The main focal imagery of the poster we design as a group is going to be a long shot of the open area of the woods which are featured within the music video, with our protagonist standing in them. It is going to be framed in order to just show the bases of the trees, and there will be a harsh light in order to create a lot of shadows around the protagonist, helping to mirror the bright look which the music video will have. Below is an example of a picture which we could have, although it would be filtered in order to make it match the black and white feel of the video. 

 

However, there are also a few other ideas which we considered photographing in order to make our magazine advert. An example of one of these is a mid-shot of the character who is featured within the video, similar to the one employed within magazine adverts such as the one for The Sound Of The Smiths. This could be effective when tied in with the music video, as the potential fan of the music will possibly recognise the artist from the video and thus will be instantly drawn towards it.

Shotlist

1. Establishing shot of the woods - to be taken in multiple locations and at different times of day, perhaps with the idea of layering them up to create more texture.
2. A close up shot of our artist, as we may use this as the focal point instead.
3. A mid-shot of the artist, similar to the one on the poster which can be seen above.
4. A mid-shot of the artist in a different costume, to play on the idea of "the past" which runs throughout the video. This could be edited in order to provide two different characters within the poster, to show that the song is about somebody being haunted.

By planning out the shots which we wish to include in our magazine advert, we will be able to be a lot more efficient in both the exposition and composition of our advert.

By George Martin