Another change of plan

We had orignally planned to do the photoshoot on Tuesday 30th November; the first lesson back after the music video deadline. However, it had snowed meaning that everything in the park will be covered in snow. This meant that we wouldn't have the nice background and scenery that we were looking for and with the deadline being next week we couldn't afford to waste time. We therefore chose to take a screen shot of the filming we already have in the park and make this our cd cover. Although it isn't the image we would of originally wanted we still managed to find a nice freeze frame which is nice and colourful, yet shows the coldness between the two characters.

Cover Inspiration

After looking on the internet at cd covers and what they commonly hold, we came across a cd cover for Oasis, which used lego figures. We have therefore looked at this and it has influenced how we are to use the lego figures on our inside covers.
We have also decided that it will have the lyrics of 'Foundations' across the inside.

Video, done and finished!

Now with the video done and finished we have 2 weeks to focus on the rest of the work that needs doing. This being the digipack and the blog. We have rescheduled the photo shoot to Tuesday 30th November. Hopefully the weather will be nice, even though its that time of year, where it is absolutely freezing!

Seeing as we already know what we want in the shot, it shouldn't take too long to get and we can be done in about 30 minutes tops.

This is our finished final piece. We believe that it shows creativity and promotes the narrative of the song well; this being the on going conflict and hatred between the two characters. We have been able to promote this image through the characters and through colour. This is reflected on the surrounding of the scene; the chosen locations, and through the choice of clothes as the female character has the two different costumes. One being brightly coloured and the other being dark and mute. The male character also wears dark clothes throughout, to show that he is the main problem between the two characters.

We have also used a variety of effects to help darken locations like in the performance room when the female character is alone. There are also locations that we have lightened to show a more upbeat and cheerful mood when both the characters are together.

This helps promote the contrasting effects throughout the whole of the video and supports the conflict with the characters.

Brainwave with regards to lego figures!

Due to not using the lego figures in the video, we had the idea of using them on our cd cover. That way it shows slight comedy on the cd cover and links in with the single scene that they are used in, during the video.
We hope to take photos of these and use them on the inside covers. We will be able to portray the personalities of the characters by editing the backgrounds and the colours to make the female figure bright and colourful, while the male figure will be dark and gloomy.

Last minute filming

After being told to refilm some of our scenes to make sure that they are up to scratch, we decided to come in on our free periods on Thursday to do the last bit of filming. We managed to get Lilians window scene re-filmed easily. We also had to film the 'friends' bit again because we were told it would look better if Caroline was in the shot as well. We therefore had to look for some boys to act as the friends. This took a bit of time, because people were reluctant to participate. But in the end, we roped in some boys to help with the scene. We have uploaded the clips on to the Mac and hope to finish editing in our frees and tomorrows lesson. Especially with it being the deadline!

Tuesday 23rd November

Today we were shown a programme called motion, where it allows you to change the effects used on the clip that you are editing. We have therefore used the piano scenes to make them look darker and give a more 'alone' effect. We have also added colour effects on certain scenes, such as the park, to make it look brighter than it was originally. Hopefully this should give the video a nice finish.

We also made a start on the cd cover. As we have already got the image of Caroline at the piano for the back cover, we have used this to work on.
We used photoshop to help edit the picture and this will allow us to include all the parts of the cd cover on top of the image, such as a barcode, stores that the cd is sold in and the song list that is usually on the back of the cover.

Thursday 18th November

Due to the long weekend, we will be missing Fridays lesson and the frees after to come back and work on our music video. We therefore made the time today to come back in our free and make up for the time we will lose.
We managed to get the stop motion of the lemons done today and fix up the rest of the music video. We had a few problems with carving into the lemon and therefore opted to write on the lemon instead. This was a lot easier for us to do without having to move the lemon much inbetween each photograph, to make the stop motion as effective as possible.
As of now we think that we have a solid piece of work and will look for any other things that we could do to make the video even better. With a week left till the deadline, we will carry on asking for peoples opinions and make sure that the video is at its best.

Today we have improved the video with effects and making changes to some parts of it. We asked for advice from peers as well as teachers to see what could be improved. Some of the things that were said was that some of the clips were on for too long. We were therefore advised to cut these clips down and use some other footage in places to help follow the tune of the song. Consequently, we went through all of our captured footage and use parts of it that we haven't already used to help add more depth to the video. We also filmed quick rushes of the performers around college, to fit in specifically with the lyrics of the song. For example, we made Lilian look as though he was 'wasted' on the stairs of college, this was a literal reflect of the lyrics; 'Your face is pasty, cause you've gone and got so wasted..' We also did some close ups of the performers faces to show the real emotions of the characters. This was quick and easy to do and very effective as it could be used anywhere in the video.

Finally, we decided to develop on the stop motion used within our video. Due to the fact that the lego people we not used in our video, we thought it'd be a good idea to use more stop motion but make it more easy for ourselves and in fitting with the tune of the song. We therefore decided that seeing as using lettering or words is the most easiest and effective way of using stop motion, it would be best if we stuck with this. In doing this we thought it would be nice to play around with the lyrics in a certain verse; this verse being verse 2 where she mentions lemons. We thought it would be a nice touch to the video.

At first we thought it would be simple if we were to just cut up the lemon in wedges and have them appear on a plate wedge by wedge, creating a pattern of some sort but we thought it would be much more effective to have the lemon written on or carved into with the word 'bitter' on it to relate to the song.

Change of Plans

We were meant to go out to the park to take pictures for the cd cover and poster but we decided with the deadline for the music video vastly approaching, it would be better off to spend this time making the video as good as it could be. More so, with the fact that the cd cover and poster deadline being a few weeks after, it is more important that we use the time that we have left to concentrate on the video and making sure we don't waste this time doing other things we can do later on, after the video is done and out of the way.

CD Cover Plans

We have decided that we would have a photo shoot on Tuesday 16th, this will allow us to get pictures of the characters for the cover of our CD. As mentioned before, we are inspired by one of the scenes in the video and would like to develop the idea through to the cd cover. This would mean going back to the location; this being the park, and taking photos of the characters till we have the right shot.

As you can see, the weather for Tuesday will be misty and foggy. However, this will work well with the cover as it will help show the feelings of the performer. This relates to pathetic fallacy, being that the weather and surroundings help illustrate the feelings of the character. It will set a nice mood to the scene against the autumnal leaves that will sit brightly in the background, behind the characters.

Finally have a filled timeline!

We have finally filled our timeline. We will now edit the areas that need it and make sure that all the transitions and lip syncing is on point. We will also add some effects that will fit to the beat of the tune to make the video more exciting.

Poster ideas

As we are all aware that our music video needs a poster as a technique to attract the audience and combine with the CD cover, we have all come up with several ideas in order to make our poster as affective as possible and hopefully portray the message we are trying to reveal through out video and CD cover.

The most obvious and most relevant technique we are looking to use is both of our characters as an element to illustrate the theme of the video, which in this case is the conflict in happening in their relationship. Although not decided yet, we are assuming to make it this "relationship conflict" as obvious as possible through their facial expression, body language and mise en scene features such as costume and location. What these elements will then leed us to do next is decide what colour will correspond well with theme of our sound track and the image of our two characters. One other of the idea considered is having both of our characters standing next to each other but having a line in between them reinforced by colours to show their personality depending on the side their standing e.g right bright lighting for the female and darker lighting for the male character.

Basic information also has to be implied on the poster e.g name of the song, when it came out, logo of the production company, people who took part in the formation of the product etc. What would be considered as a challenging task as we are making this poster is how we decide to make it appear in order to make it appealing enough to gain attention from a wide audience and our main target audience which are more likely to be teenagers and young adults from from the age of 16 to 25. What has inspired us to come up with what we have come up with is the background used whilst filming in the park. Here we see fallen tree leafs and other factors such as murky weather, which all sums up to present a desolate and lonely image, which once again corresponds with the theme.

Other than that we have also been researching how we can make this poster. Heres where we have been looking as a resource ;

http://www.blogger.com/www.ehow.co.uk/how_6670136_make-a3-poster.html

CD Cover and Poster Ideas

Due to the fact that the narrative of the song is mainly focused on the two characters and their differences, we thought it might be a good idea to show this through the cd cover and poster.

Some ideas that we have come up with are to have the front of the cd cover showing both the characters together and having the female singer alone in the back. This would help portray the 2 sides of the female performers feelings and reflects how she feels in the different situations.

We were inspired by the freeze frame of our rushes that we had filmed. We liked the lighting used and how the main focus of the image wasn't specifically in the center. This would allow room for the song list at the back. The keyboard also suggests music, as though the artist has played all these songs on her keyboard and the her being alone also suggests that she has played them for herself.

We also liked the background and the way this picture is framed. We decided that we would take a picture of both the characters in this location either stood next to each other, or having them part from each other but having the female singer as the main focus.

For example, the female character could be stood at the front and there could be images of the male character stood in hte background by the trees.

This would help show that even though he is not the main focus of the album, he is still there and in it.

Unfortunate for the lego figures

Unfortunately we have not used any of the lego figure stop motion. The reason for this being is that the lego figures jump too much from each photograph. For this to work well, we need to photograph them moving very little amount each time. Therefore with this being very time consuming, tricky to get done and only needing it for a few seconds of the video, we have decided to scrap this idea. However, we have still used one of the pictures in the video and haven't dismissed the lego figures as a whole.

Developing Further Ideas of Stop Motion

We have thought to use more stop motion in the video as it is very effective and in fitting with the song. We have decided that it would be nice to have a couple of dolls or figures that represent the 2 characters in the video. This will help portray the emotions and actions of the characters in a more comedic way and will help give another dimension to the video.

After having a rummage around our homes, Caroline had found some lego figures which were very fitting with the characters; clothes wise. We thought that they would be easy to work with as they are small enough to photograph and are easily manipulated to show the figures walking or sitting etc. Caroline therefore went to take a series of photo's of the lego figures slowly moving away from each other and showing negativity towards each other. However, once they were uploaded and put on a time line, they didn't work well as the frame wasn't the same in every photo taken, meaning that as it showed the next picture, not only were the lego figures moving, but so were the backgrounds. Caroline had to go and take the pictures again, using the tripod this time to make sure they stayed in the same frame and only the lego figure were to move.

Tuesday 9th November

Today we have done some more filming to fill in some of the gaps and to make sure we have enough to work with. We spent this time filming in various places around college, simple yet affective rushes. These will only be used every now and again throughout the video, so that they aren't too obvious about being on college grounds.

We therefore took a quick argument scene between the 2 characters on the stairs of college. It was hard to get a quiet few minutes for filming as the stairs are commonly used to students around college, however, we put up with it and made use of the stairs during lesson time, which meant they weren't as busy as they would be during frees and lunch hours.

Caroline's Piano Practice

We have edited a video of Caroline practicing the opening sequence of the foundations video on the piano.

Friday 5th November

Today we captured the previous filming we had done and edited it into our video. We made sure that the lip syncing was on point and that the parts of the filming we used fit in with the lyrics and tune of the song. We feel as though we are working at a steady pace and with only a few areas left to fill on the time line we will soon be making adjustments and changes to make it a better music video.

Tuesday 2nd November

We had booked the performance room in advance so that we could re film some of the scenes of Caroline preforming on the keyboard. We made sure we had all the different shots; long shot, mid-long shot and close up. We made sure that the lighting and positioning of the keyboard were exactly the same as the previous time we filmed in here to make sure that you couldn't tell the difference from the separate times and so there isn't a noticeable jump between the 2 different clips, if they are to be used next to each other.

We also thought it would be good to use this time in here to film some 'lonely' shots of the performers. We took quick rushes of the characters sat in the middle of the empty room with nothing but the black walls behind to surround them. This helped emphasise the loneliness the characters were feeling and allowed them to sit, stand and walk around nothing but a chair and the black walls to keep them company.

CD Cover Research

Today we have researced into Kate Nash's style of CD covers and other covers in the same and similiar genres of music. Kate Nash's previous covers seem to be simple hand-drawn themed drawings against a white or cream coloured background, the song title often is in the bottom right corner and follows a similair style as the artwork. As shown in the CD Cover for the Kate Nash "Foundations" CD Case.

This style of artwork for CD covers is very unique to Kate Nash in the music industry as no other Artists use such simple artwork in their covers making it stand out signifcantly.


Another CD cover I found was very simple and had little artwork used on it, but the colour scheme made it appear very attractive and eye catching, but basic design. The white text clearly stands out against the transiting background of turquoise to black, making it much more noticeable and readable even at far distances. The design appears to use little material and designed not to use the traditional plastic CD cases that most artists commonly use.

Other types of CD covers that are often used for pop music tend to be a close up picture of the singers face with a simple background. This is a more modern type of CD cover, and is easily recognised by potential buyers because of the picture of the singer. We have decided for the back cover of our CD case will be a picture of Caroline sat at the piano. The picture will be separated by the rule of thirds, with Caroline sat on the far right. Along the left side of the case will state the names of the songs on the CD. The colours on this part of the case will be quite minimal as it is a picture taken during the performance part of our video, which is when all the colours are quite dull to reflect Caroline's real feelings.