Graphic Match

During the editing process we discovered that we had two clips that we could perform a graphic match on right at the end of the video. This would create a dramatic ending to the video and would create a final link between the narrative and performace of our video.

The impact of this ending is much bigger than our first plan of the single clip of throwing the microphone on the floor. By graphic matching this with the other clip when throwing the spade in the narrative.

The inspiration for this originally came from the 'shower scene' in 'Psycho' where the blood draining down the bath plug hole graphic matches to an eye. 

Clip Of Throwing The Microphone

Clip Of Throwing the Spade

Walking Overlay Clip

Another of our initial ideas during the editing stage was to split a long clip of the happy couple walking through the woods into three clips and overlay them to make the progress of the quick much quicker whilst giving the impression of time passing. This is a technique previously used in a thriller opening produced last year by a member of our group. 

However when we tried this out during editing it turned out that due to the shot not being filmed on a tripod, that when the clip was split up and overlaid it was very jumpy and didn't give the desired effect. 

After discussing this we came to the conclusion that we could not perform any more editing to this idea that would rectify the jumpy result and therefore decided to change this clip for some footage we had not yet used of two first person shots of the couple smiling at each other. We feel that this flows much better in the video. 

First person shot of couple looking at each other

First person shot of couple looking at each other

Split Clip Idea

We had an idea when filming to film two shots from the same position, one of Kieran sat looking at a photo and the other of him singing the lyrics at the edge of the shot so that we could merge the clips together with a split. This would create a shot of Kieran shouting the lyrics to himself which we thought would be a very unique and memorable element for the 'bridge' part of our track where it cuts to vocals and piano before kicking back in.

When editing we had a problem with this as although the shots where taken from exactly the same place, the colour of the clips where noticeably different when placed next to each other. After trying some colour changing on the clips we had another idea to use the opacity of the clips to overlay them rather than splitting them. This resulted in a really nice effect where the version of Kieran shouting the vocals is less defined which really links the narrative to the lyrics in the way that the lead vocalist / guy in the narrative is annoyed at himself for the mistakes he has made with the break in his relationship. 

Clip using 'Split technique' during editing

Developed clip using 'Opacity technique' at a later stage during editing

Institutions & Promotional Strategies

Institutions

YouTube - YouTube is the one of the main institution to exhibit promotional videos and allows anyone with an internet connection to view millions of videos for free via its online streaming website. This service has impacted the music industry dramatically as it is much easier to watch music videos on demand for free which has increased the need for artists to produce a good promotional video to sell their music and talent to their target audience. With YouTube available on devices such as: tablets, mobile phones, and smart Tv's, it is even more accessible to people wherever they may be; this results in the music videos being watched more than they used to be and working together with the music as the full media package product. 

YouTube offers bands the ability to create their own channel of their music, this is an extra ability that will allow fans to subscribe to for free and be notified about any new music videos as they are uploaded to the channel. This helps keep the fans more up to date with the band with much less effort than the traditional ways meaning more people are willing to dedicate themselves to be a supporting fan of artists. 

Music Channels - Music channels are the other main, more traditional institutions to exhibit promotional videos. Although they lack the ability to view videos selected by the user and the music videos played are selected by the institution, they have the advantage of presenting videos to users that they may not choose to watch on YouTube. This will then consequently increase the popularity of the videos selected by the institution which will give them much more power over which bands are promoted to the public the most. Consequently it is therefore important for bands and artists to present themselves to these institutions and get on the right side of them so they will agree to show the music video and promote the band to their audience.  

Promotional Strategies

For a band it is very important to promote their music video in order for people to go and view the video in the first place. Although the institutions promote the video to a certain extreme, the artists can carry out other strategies that advertise the video to members of the public so they then go and watch the video through one of the institutions. 

Social Networks - The main promotional strategy that gains the most success for bands is social networks, this recent invention has given bands a way to communicate with its fans and broadcast news and information to thousands or millions of people very easily. On social sites such as Facebook and Twitter it is very common for bands to have their own profiles that people will follow so that any information or media placed on that profile will appear on any followers news feeds and accessible by a few clicks. The technology of social media allows bands to share their music videos via these sites allowing the audience to view them very easily and then share them with their friends. This has been of great advantage to artists as it allows them a very effective and simple way of promotion for practically free.  

Magazines - Another way to promote their video is to go for traditional advertisements in music related magazines such as 'Kerrang!'. Although this method of promotion is more expensive than social networks it is not extremely expensive but can work very well at widening the audience and using an alternative method than online material. The more promotion a band can get the more successful it is going to be due to the interest it will gain from members of the public. 

Digipak Research

General Conventions Of  A Digipak

• Digipacks are based around CD / Vinyl / DVD
• More expensive - Special Edition
• Limited Edition
• Directed at collectors and devoded fans
• Incoprorate something extra - Booklet, Band images, Information on band, Lyric sheets
• Have elaborate designs - 4 - 6 panel
• May include special features (DVD)
• Extra Tracks / Hidden Tracks (CD)

New Model Army




This digipak is for a hardcore punk band called 'New Model Army' and abides by many conventions. Instantly we can see by the artwork that the band/music is not upbeat and happy because of the dark and gloomy artwork on the front of the digipak. It is very conventional for the artwork to relate to the style and identity of the band which will help it appeal to the right audience. 

The contrast of the black white and red is very harsh and bold which also relates to the style of music such as more acoustic songs may use more pastel calming colours. This colour scheme has been applied through all panels of the digipak including the label on the vinyl and the colours in the lyric book which again help the band to contain a consistent identity. 

The cover of this digipak is kept very basic but still is very attention grabbing because of the harsh contrasting colours; this contrast separates the cover into two where the text and logo can be inserted on one side and the primary artwork on the other. 

Website Research

General Conventions Of A Website

• Theme is applied to suit with the band image / identity
• Elaborate artwork and logo's relating to the band create a title bar
• Colour scheme very contrasting (dark colour schemes for punk / hardcore / rock)
• Feature band artwork and music videos
• Purpose to sell the band to its target audience
• Offer a way of buying official band / artist merchandise

Conventional Hardcore Band Website - While She Sleeps

Instantly on the home page of this website we are able to see the 'While She Sleeps' logo in the centre of the page to draw attention. This is very conventional as the well known logo will link the website to the bands identity and allow the fans to relate to it.  In addition to the logo we can see that the bands colour scheme from their latest album is exactly the same on the website and the vintage effect of the case has been applied to the website background; this not only makes the website look attractive and professional but also relates to the logo and the known identity of the band.

Also on the page we can see news about upcoming shows/gigs; this is very conventional as it is an element that sells the band and will create them money with links to purchase tickets. This will also increase their popularity meaning the website is meeting its purpose.

The latest news section of the website is a very good feature as it allows the viewers of the website to feel more involved with the band by notifying them about the bands latest news. This is also conventional because by getting the fans more involved with the band will make it more likely for them to spend the money on tickets to gigs and merchandise.

The links to the social networking sites of Twitter and Facebook allows very quick ways to view information on the band on these websites by taking the viewer directly to their profile; this also makes information about the band more open to the viewer which helps them to relate to the band more.

Issues When Filming

Issue
On Monday 4th November we filmed the performance shots for our music video at our setting of the barn in Pickworth which went well as we stuck to the previously made plan. Although after reviewing the footage on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning, we discovered that despite looking very good on the camera screen that when uploaded on to the Mac and played on a larger screen the footage was quite grainy.

Reason
Due to our experience with cameras within the group we knew this was because the ISO setting was too high for the location and the camera was trying to let in too much light than it could handle. Our ISO was set to 3200 when it would be more suitable to film in 800 where the footage would be slightly darker but of a higher quality cutting out the grain.

Solution
At first we used a different piece of editing software called 'Adobe After Effects' where we applied de-noise filters to the clip in order to see if we could revive our footage, however after this lengthy process we discovered that although the clips where less grainy they became very soft as a result which was also not the result we where looking for.

Because of this problem we came to the conclusion that we needed to re-film so therefore organised to re-film at the barn on Tuesday and as a result had to request permission from the farm and gather up any equipment we had borrowed and already taken back. After a spending Monday night organising we were able to gather all equipment and where prepared to re-film on the Tuesday.

After re-filming Tuesday with much better results in which we checked on the Mac throughout the filming to ensure we where gaining the best footage possible we quickly reverted back to our old plan and went to film more of the narrative in our woods setting.

Finally we decided that the fireworks footage was not needed due to the range of footage we had already gained and therefore did not film on Tuesday night. This decision was also partially made on the limitation of lighting at the fireworks and the poor results we had already gained from filming in low light.

First Shoot - Grainy Shots

Second Shoot - New and much better quality shots

Weather

 

The weather on the monday is suitable for our shoot as their is no rain which could cause complications with the transport of our equipment for our performance and also the filming of our narrative for our video. 

 

We are going to try and aim to film the happy times of our couple around 15:00 when the weather is sunny. This will help show the contrast between the happy times together and the sad times once the couple have broken up.

 



 

As we are only fliming at night on the Tuesday, we are also not concerned about the weather as it looks to clear up by the night which is the time we will be filming at the fireworks.





Filming Day Plan

Monday

9:00 - Drive to the location

• Matts Parents - Matt & Both Amps + Microphones
• Dan - Lighting, Stands, Effects
• Kierans Mum - Ellie, Kieran, Harry & Jake + Camera
• Ben - Drums

9:30 - Clear the Barn for setup

9:45 - Setup all equipment ready for shoot

10:30 - Film drum close ups

11:00 - Guitar close ups

11:30 - Full band shots

13:00 - Pack up equipment after performance shoot

13:30 - Go to woodland area around barn and start shots on narrative

15:00 - Finish shoot

Tuesday

19:00 - Meet at fireworks and film couple shots