Shooting scripts/Storyboards

These are the storyboards myself and my group made when planning the shots we would use throughout our music video. We had all agreed on the narrative and the storyboards would help us structure our filming and give us a clear outline. However, we would only use it as a plan - shots can look very different than on paper and with the unknown location there is sure to be changes to some aspects of the video or individual shots. When planning we decided that we would keep cinematography and the setting simple as this is similar to Mumford and the indie/folk genre. This involved the camera movements used and also the transitions, although the latter wouldn't need to be thought about until the editing stage.

Here is the call sheet our group made in case of an emergency or if any members needed to contact each other:

Completed Advert

This is my advert that would be part of the promopack to accompany my digipack. I feel the theme of the advert compliments the digipack well, and also the video that we created. The dark atmosphere of the poster has strong links to the video and digipack which is important as the audience can view the three as a package which increases its effectiveness as a product. For the band's name I chose to use a white on black style as this emphasises the text and will stand out to anyone viewing the advert. I tried to limit the text on the advert as too much can lose the audience's attention. Advert's are there to be viewed quickly and people will want to gather all the information they can from it, too much text can distract and damage the effectiveness on it. I included the name of the album, which is vital, and placed it in a position where it is easily seen. I also increased the font size for the album title to put more emphasise on this and make it stand out. Stating the special contents of the product was also needed as the audience need to be influenced to buy it and being informed of extra exclusive content will do this, which is something that was evident in my research of adverts before I produced my own. Another aspect of adverts I gathered in my research were media opinions and ratings and I included this in my advert. This is another feature that influences the audience as they want to know how good the album is before they spend money on it. I added images of the band members to the advert as Indie music fans like to know bands more personally and the images let them see the band and relate to them. At the bottom of the ad there is information and companies related to the product. The 'play.com' logo shows where the album can be purchased and the 'Island' logo represents Mumford's record label who would have produced the product. The address for the official site of Mumford & Sons is also included as it shows fans where they can go for more information on the band or product, such as tour dates and more merchandise.

Feedback:

Adverts

I've looked at examples of adverts used by artists to promote their albums to gather ideas in the different styles that can be used and in what way the advert is effective in appealing to the intended audience.



This advert is for a band called The Vines, they are an alternative rock band so this similar and relevant to Mumford and Sons. It is a very creative advert with the graphics playing on the bands name as there are vine leaves that twist around the page. Using this style means the audience can link this to the band which could create a hype around the band if they are easily recognised by this graphic trademark. This is all on a white background that emphasises these colours and the text is black which again makes this easily viewable to the audience and immediately informs them of what and who the advert is about. The advert also provides extra information around the product such as release date, what it includes and how fans can purchase it. These are conventions of adverts and would be expected to be found on any advert promoting an album. The advert is very unique which will appeal to the target audience as individuality is the main trait of indie music and the advert provides that. It also features bonus content which gives an extra incentive for fans to purchase this album.



The second advert I looked at is one for 'Only By the Night' by Kings of Leon. The main image used for the advert is the official album cover. This means the audience can immediately relate the product to the advert when they see it in stores or online as their appearance is identical, which should aid the sales of the product. The image is quite mystical and edgy with the stare of the band members and transformation of their heads. This conveys the theme of the music and that the tracks could be quite aggressive and meaningful which is an effect that may be intended for audience appeal. Again the advert features all the main conventions with release date and there is also the logo for 'play.com' which may have been a paid spot for them to advertise. The advert may appeal to the target audience because of the abstract main image which suits the indie/rock genre's fan base. The fact that the four band members also appear in the advert means fans can relate to them and it makes the band more personable.

Shooting Diaries

We planned our first day of filming for the 18th of January, where we were hoping that the majority of our shots could be captured. We had to make a late change of location for this due to the original setting becoming unavailable. However, the alternative location we found didn't hinder us and still allowed us to create the video we wanted to. In this filming session we realised the task was much larger than first thought, and that the amount of different shots we needed would mean that several more sessions of filmings would have to be planned. One of the main issues we faced to begin with was the lighting and keeping this accurate. Due to our forest location, the lighting of each shot differed and this required us to change the lighting settings such as the exposure, as we wanted the video to use low key lighting throughout. All four. members of our group were needed in the video so the roles of each of us changed each shot. However, for most of this session I was in shot as a character of the video as all three of the 'band members' had to shoot our individual shots. I also had a main role in directing shots for the ones I did not feature in and this required organisation on my part to ensure each shot was structured how we wanted to give the required effect

Our second session of filming was on the 9th February, and a members of the group brought in guitars as we wanted to base the shoot around the band shots that would be included in the video. This was tricky for the group as it took some time for us to get used to acting, miming and playing the instruments. For this period of filming I was usually on the camera due to not having a main acting role and had to make sure all aspects of the shot were correct and suited the video. I was behind the camera for most shots featuring band members playing the guitar individually. One problem we faced in this session was the effects of the weather. Rain had made the ground uneven and I needed to adjust the tripod to ensure that our shots were level. We also had to be careful as there was a lot of standing water so the equipment needed to be handled appropriately.

We planned our third session to be the final stage of filming where we would get the shots involving the sole female character in the video. We also wanted to get any shots that had been missed in the first two sessions so that we were fully prepared to be editing the video in the following week. I took the role of director for this as I wasnt needed in many shots and took control with the placing of actors in each shot, how it would be captured (type of shot/camera movement) and informed them on when each shot was beginning.

A fourth date of filming was needed after some technical issues leaving us with lost footage from previous sessions. With the aid of our storyboards it was easy to estabilish which shots we needed but it did mean we had lost time for editing the video. A major issue we faced was again with the lighting. We were filming much earlier in the day than we had before and we found it too bright compared to our already captured footage and that it did not fit in with the gloomy atmosphere we wanted to convey in the video. However, this problem was overcome by adjusting the brightness settings to make the forest appear much darker than it was in reality. We had to continuously do this for each shot as the lighting would vary for each different location we used in the forest. As this session only involved three of our group, we had to adapt our roles for each shot depending on who featured in it. The others in this session were the main male character and the sole female character and as they required several shots together, I had to shoot and direct from my position behind the character. I used several panning shots which required precise movement with the tripod. I also shot a scene that involved giving an effect that a character was disappearing. For this I needed to shoot and pause at the exact right moment while also directing the characters on when to move and when to stay still.

Image Editing

The software I used to manipulate the photos I had taken is called iPhoto. It allowed me to adjust images to create the effect that I wanted to with my digipack and advert.

Here is a screenshot of the editing process for my advert:

Here are the changes I made from the original version of the photo I used for my advert:



I made the image much darker so the promopack had continuity as the digipack also had dark themes and audience would need to made connections between the two. I also think the rustic dark brown shade to the picture gives it a traditional feel and suits Mumford and Sons well. The darker tone also allowed me to add text to the advert that would stand out more than if it was on the bright shade of blue on the original image.

Here are the changes for the inside of my digipack:



This was more of a simple change but I found it effective. The digipack needs to be a complete package with a continuous style and theme. The changes I to the inside do this and it compliments the exterior packaging well. The black and white tint adds a vintage effect and the font used for the lyrics on the inside cover of my digipack combines well with this and really highlights the effect that I wanted to put across.