This is overall, my final idea for a magazine advert. I have made the advert simple, as it looks much more professional.
I have referred to the CD cover, as it features the pigeon from the both the video and the CD, therefore, clearly giving the impression of what the advert is. It advert clearly appeals to the older generation as well as the younger, considering that there is a random pigeon, for young comedy, but also the idea of retro music, e.g a cassete player.
I have researched into the different feeder covers, and discovered that the band, Feeder uses the same font for thier name everytime, therefore I have decided to match up to that as best I can, making the advert as similar and professional looking as I can. I have created our own company logo 'J Corparation' or 'J Corp', in order to make the advert look as proffesional as possible. I have included a website link, suggesting that the advert is referring to a official feeder website, which also promotes online merchandise, which is a very popular thing for the media to do.
In order for the magazine advert to relate to both the video and the CD cover, I have decided to go for the theme of the bird and feathers.
Personally, I love this background, therefore I will work on the advert using this background. It is subtle and willnot take the attention away from the CD cover which will be displayed, and it still relates to what it is advertising.
Before we created the magazine advert for our CD cover we wanted to do some research into what is already out there and how magazine adverts work as well as what is needed on them. In this post I have looked at several magazine adverts and looked at the different aspects that go into them as well getting inspiration and ideas for our own.
HIM - Down and Out - Kerrang Magazine
The reader would notice that and be instantly drawn to the ad to see what it is advertising. This makes the reader interested and when they read what its advertising it gets them wanting the CD/DVD compilation which would result in sales which is the reason for the add.
Before we can make our album cover we need to do some research into what else is already on the market. This research will allow us to make a product that appeals to our target audience and it will make sure we follow the forms and conventions that are already out there.
Bowling for soup - Sorry for Partyin'
This is the first album cover I have looked at. This cover is by the band Bowling for Soup who are an American pop-punk band. Their music is upbeat and fun loving which is similar to the song we chose to do for our video.
“Sorry for Partyin’” is clearly a sarcastic sorry this is further shown by the use of anchorage. The band are jumping into a pool with enthusiastic expressions. The juxtaposition of the image and the title shows the sarcasm. The name of the album also relates to their target audience. Bowling for Soup’s target audience would be a age group of around 16-24. This age group is the age that is most likely to be going out and partying. They are also the age group that will have the most ‘don’t care’ attitude towards peoples opinions to partying which is why the album name relates to them so much.
The most notable thing about this CD cover is how bright and eye catching it is. This works for several reasons. Firstly when it is in a shop it is an album cover that will stand out and catch a persons attention. By having a colourful interesting front cover it will grab peoples interest which will help to promote sales. Another reason for the brightness and boldness of the cover is because it echoes the music and the band. The music is very upbeat, fun loving and feel good this is shown by the fun cover. The personality of the band is also shown by the boldness, it shows that they are a lively band.
The bands name is the header of the cover and is in a bold bright text. This enables a person to see clearly what the CD is and allows them to find it easily in a record store.
"Sorry for Partyin'" features a contraction which gives the name an informal relaxed nature. This appeals to the target audience because it is how they talk. Many 16-24 years olds, their target audience, talk in a relaxed way such as what is shown here. This helps to relate to their audience.
The main colours that are used on the album are yellow, red and blue. These colours are mainly gender neutral which could show that the music can appeal to both genders. The colours are very bright and have connotations of happiness, such as the yellow, and exciting happy times such as the red and blue.
The image shows the band in their trunks. This exposes their tattoos which can say a lot about the type of music and type of band that they are. As all the band are heavily tattooed, and many have beards, it could say that their music is of a rock genre or of a heavy nature.
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The Used - In Love and Death
The Used are very different from Feeder, they are an American alternative rock band. I looked at this album cover because the style is very different and it shows a different take on how to create an album cover.
The overall look of the album cover is of a dark depressing nature. It is also of a very artistic nature which could represent what the musicians feel about their music.
The illustration represents, quite literally, the name of the album “In Love and Death”. It shows a heart, representing love, been hung from a tree, which represents death. The illustration could show the bands feeling towards love, it could give an idea to the type of music they produce or it could be an exploration of how love and death is entwined.
The lack of colour could be there for several reasons. Firstly it can be purely for aesthetics, the ink drawing looks really striking in black and white and colour would have ruined this effect. It also allows the heart, that is the only colour on the cover, to stand out more. It directs the audiences gaze and empathises that this is the main part on the album. Another reason for the like of colour could be to show that their music has no gender relation and can appeal to both.
The bands name has been printed on the cover to look as though it has just been hand written over the drawing. This carries on the illustration inky look of cover as well as making it look like the band has drawn the image and then signed their name over the top. The artistic vibe that is given off from this cover could show that they are very serious about their music and the dark themes of the cover could represent that they touch upon some darker subjects within their music and lyrics. This tells the audience what they are going to get from the album.
“In Love and Death” is printed in a very small, curled font. It is very discrete and at a first glance it seems unnoticeable. This could be because they want the illustration to do the talking as it explains more about the album. It could also because for aesthetic purposes, it looks good smaller, allowing the image to use most of the room that is on the cover.
A parental advisory sticker has been placed on the album. This is for reasons out of the bands control but since it is there is says a lot about the band and music. It shows that the band are not afraid to shock with their lyrics and will sing about what they like if it fits with a song. It also shows the type of audience they are aiming at. Obviously a younger generation are not been targeted because of the content of the lyrics.
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After looking at two completely different designs I am going to look at album artwork that is of the nature of the song we are doing. Feeder are a mainstream British rock band. The album artwork below is from several British bands that fit in the same genre as Feeder and are usually aimed 16-24 year olds, which is what we have aimed our video at.
The two albums above are from Coldplay (top) and Oasis (bottom). These two albums show a he tic, artistic look that could be approached. This is a very complicated look and this could represent to the level of depth in the song or subject matter. This style is too heavy for what we want to create, which is fun and upbeat.
The two albums above are of a more simpler sense. Snowpatrol (top) and Arctic Monkeys (bottom) feature simpler designs but with an artistic twist. Snowpatrol's album is very interesting because it is the texture and detail that are the main focus of the artwork. The actual picture is very simple. The Arctic Monkeys cover works in a similar way, the most interesting part of the cover is again the pattern which has been cut to look like windows. Both of these dessigns take complex art and cut them into simple shapes.
The top album is an an original feeder album cover. Thebottom is Stereophonics cover. These album covers attract my attention because they are simple yet striking. The colours on the Stereophonics album instantly catch your eye where as the power and striking pose of the bird attract you to the Feeder cover. From these covers we will take inspiration of simplicity and letting an image do the talking rather than over complicating a design.
From the research we have learnt that simplicity can work really well and it is a style that we are going to try. We have also seen that bands are often not included on the artwork. One reason for this is that bands want their artwork to enhance their message their music is giving off and by using anchorage this can be achieved.
We wanted to include different shot types in our video. This means that it will be an interesting and varied narrative for the audience to watch. By having a variety of shot types it creates different dimension to the film and keeps their attention. This post shows several screen shots that show a variety of shot types that we have used with in the video.
Master Shot: The master shots helped to show a whole scene and show a lot of information at once. We have also used them like an establishing shot as we wanted to keep the fast paced tempo of our video and not slow it down with several establishing shots. This helps to establish the setting and show the audience where they are.
Insert Shot - This shows what the character is looking at and allows the audience to see information that the character can see.
Close up: The close ups have been used to show a characters reaction as well as to keep diversity in the video.
High angle shot: This shot was used to create an interesting twist in the film. Often high angle shots work to make a person look like they have less power, this was not the case. We used it to show the characters in an interesting way. Also because we broke the fourth wall rule, as we had the characters interacting with the camera, this created a fun way for them to do it.
Over the shoulder shot: This shot was added to show another perspective in the video. We wanted it to show what other people were up to that day. By having the over the shoulder shot, that puts the audience into the action, it shows what other people are doing around town and helps to make the audience feel included.
This is part of our footage that wasn't used. In the post I will explain the reasons why.
This video shows several establishing shots that we took and ended up not using. We decided against using establishing shots because it broke up the fast paced affect that we wanted for the video. The other reason was because some of the shots weren't to the best standard that they could be and we felt that it would lower the standard of the video.
These shots weren't used because the framing wasn't very good. Although the footage is pretty fun and would have looked good in the video, the poor quality of the shot would have lowered the overall standard of the video.
This shows unused shots of the Bee's, we really liked these shots but they weren't used as there wasn't enough time in the video. We wanted to post these shots because we really liked how they turned out.
Today was spent editing more of the footage. We also spent time talking to our teacher and receiving feedback for our work. From the feedback we realised the ending of the film may look better with some sort of calm music to set the scene and to make the video more professional. We also learnt that the rest of the editing we have done, the start and middle is looking good. We explained to our teacher the idea of smoking at the start, from our discussion we realised that it may be a better idea not to include this is as it could seem like we are advertising or promoting smoking. As the video could influence young people we don't want to put this in the film and make Feeder seem as though they promote smoking. This feedback allowed us to see what we are doing right and what needed work.
Updated via blackberry.
The editing process allows us to see what shots are good and what were a waste. It also allows us to see if our original ideas will look as good as we thought.
During editing we realised that the overall idea of the film should become more of a structured narrative. Instead of focusing on one person and filming them going to different places we decided to change the story into the idea of the girl filming a day in her life. This idea ties in well the song as the title is Just A Day.
By using different editing techniques we are able to add a 'REC' onto the filming. This means that we can show when the girl is filming by having the record 'REC' button layered over our footage and when she isn't we can leave that off.
We planned for the film to be in reverse and start with the morning after. Instead we are doing it the other way round but we are still putting the film into reverse because we really like that idea and the effect that it creates is really fun. The original opening scene that we planned will now be the ending.
As we have changed the start of the film we thought the original ending would be a good idea to begin with but after talking we new that we needed to make our new idea clearer to the audience. The opening will now be a girl smoking and then someone coming up to her and taking them out somewhere fun. When they leave the girl will grab a camera and start filming, this will show the audience that it is from her perspective. We changed the original idea to smoking instead of bubbles because we thought smoking appealed to an older generation. As there are many 'fun' shots in our video we needed to make sure we still have the target audience in mind. This will help to make it relevant and appealing to them.
During filming several problems came to our attention. First of all we realised that we wouldn't be able to shoot all the scenes that we had planned, there are several reasons for this.
Firstly health and safety issues arose. We couldn't film all of the skate scenes from the angles that we wanted because that would have but us and the boarders in danger of injury. This was because the layout of the skate park was different to what we originally thought. Secondly the scene in Rotherham where washing up liquid was to be put into the fountains didn't take place because it could be classed as an act of vandalism. Fortunately someone earlier that day had already done this, so we took advantage of this and filmed what we could with the bubbles.
During filming some of the cast didn't show. This meant we couldn't film a wide variety of people which we originally wanted. Even though this happened we filmed what we could and got some good shots from it.
As we filmed we came up with more ideas. For example in Rotherham there was a blow up slide, teacup ride and a bed in a shop. Even though we didn't plan for any of these shots we thought they would be a good addition to the film as they match the aesthetic and feel we want to create.
With some of the filming not going to plan and other ideas emerging our storyboard is slightly changing. We still want to stick to the originally concept but we will be adding different scenes that go better with the music and create a better over all look.
These are photos of the places we are filming in. The skate park has been chose, as it's one of the largest skate parks in Sheffield. This set is perfect for filming, because it is covered in graffiti, and fits perfectly with the urban connotations of a teenagers hang-out. Also, clearly this is a place where skaters and bikers like to practice, and so Claire and I plan to ask permission from them, to film them as they ride.
Scene 1 – establishing shot of living room, covered in empty booze bottles, cans, and toilet paper. People are asleep.
Insert shot of someone asleep, followed by another.
Insert shot then moves on to a girl waking up, pans up to follow her as she sits up to rummage her hair.
Moves back to master shot as she stands up and moves over to the record player.
Insert shot of the girl pressing ‘stop’ on record player, and song begins to play. As the opening of song starts, insert shots of everyone waking up. Once the music kicks in, everything is then sped up and put into reverse.
Then it moves to a street at night, panning right, to follow everyone walking backwards in reverse back down the street.
Scene 2 - It then moves onto a low angle shot from floor level upwards, of a group of people dancing at what looks to be a dark club. (Slow) There is then an insert shot of someone smiling, and swaying their head. Insert shot of someone holding a bottle, and high angle shot of everyone together, from above.
The camera then moves onto another reversed shot of the group walking backwards, down another street. There is then a shot of someone walking through a door backwards. It then flicks to a group of friends sat around a fire, handing a bottle around the dire. In then moves to a close up of a person smiling, and then a medium shot of two people cuddling and laughing together.
Scene 3 – The group are then walking backwards into a skate park, holding skate boards and wearing skating hats and things. There is then a shot from the top of the rink, as someone sets off on the skateboard. There will then be a low angle shot as a skateboarder flies above.
It will then flick to the skateboarder landing on the rink with a group of friends stood behind. The camera then flicks to the group stood laughing, as there will be someone having a piggyback.
Scene 4 – There will be a group of friends having a laugh in the Sheffield Peace gardens. There will then be a slow motion clip of a girl throwing water towards a group of friends who will laugh and run towards her. A guy will then put the girl over his should, and run through the fountains, followed by the friends.
There will be a medium close up shot, of 2 people, separately wiping the water from their faces, there will then be a close up of someone laughing and looking at their friends.
Scene 5 – The group will be hanging around and chasing each other in the peace gardens as they are laughing.
Slow motion will then kick in as they run. There will be a low angle shot directly above, of the main girl spinning around. There will then be a slow motion medium close up of the main girl spinning, before a close up shot of the girl continuing to spin.
It will then flick back to the girl leaning on a wall, with one foot up against the wall, as she blows bubbles. A guy will then approach, and there will be a medium close up from the side, as the man approaches. There will be a slow motion shot as he pops a bubble. There will then be a high angle, slow motion shot as the girl blows bubbles, and the bubbles float up above her. The camera will then follow the bubbles as they drift away.
The video above shows a rough idea to what the video will look like when it is finished. It shows where the music changes and how that would work with the scenes we have planned. This is a an initial idea so it may change when we come to edit the filming. Although we have this plan we have decided to also just film interesting shots on the day. This will mean when it comes to editing we will have a wider selection of shots as well as the ability to change things if it does not fit with the music.
I have created these storyboards so that when we are filming we will know what shots we want. It will also mean that we will have an idea to how we want the scene to look like. The storyboard allows us to be organised with our filming and know what needs to be filmed.
Although we have this storyboard the overall effect of the film that we want to create is just people going out and having a fun time. This means that, if on the day of filming, we see something that will fit in with the film we will film it and then during editing we can see if it will fit with the over all aesthetics of the film. We do not want our film to look too structured as we want it to just look like people having a good time by filming interesting things that we see we will be able to keep the film fresh, interesting and appealing to our target audience.
Here is an email from one of the actors.
In order to publicise the creation of our video, and need for actors, I had an email sent trough the college to all the students. I had several replies; this is one of them.
-----Original Message----- From: Reed Elliot Sent: 13 October 2009 17:22 To: Steve Pidd Subject: RE: Message on behalf of one of our A2 media students. (Video Project)
hi.
Id probably be interested in doing it :)
-----Original Message----- From: Steve Pidd Sent: Tue 10/13/2009 11:50 AM To: All Students Subject: Message on behalf of one of our A2 media students. (Video Project)
''Hey guys!! Claire Johnson and I are going to start filming our A2 music video project, next week.
The music video will be to the song Feeder - Just a day.
We basically want a video of friends having fun, and doing fun things.
So we want people who are up for a laugh, colourful, brimming with confidence, friendly, and fun, and aren't afraid to do anything bizarre!
We want natural, fun people! Let me know if you want to take part, and I will send you the details of the video! Thankyou,
Emily-Jayne Fletcher.''
This recording was done during a discussion myself and Emily-Jayne had regarding the lights that would be needed during certain scenes.
I have used 'stripgenerator' to create a story board showing our over all idea. 'Stripgenerator' is website that allows you to create different storyboards or strips and then export them onto different blogs or blog on their website. This was a great website to use as it allowed us to see our ideas properly in a storyboard format.
The story boards show each individual scene. We are going to draw each individual scene and then scan this into the computer. The use of the individual scene storyboards will be there to show what camera work will be used where as these storyboards are just here to show our idea. With the individual scene storyboards we can include more detail and plan the filming properly.
