Blog 15 Digipack

The first bit of our coursework is to create a promo pack for our chosen band and music video including a DVD digipack and an advert.A promotion package is usually designed to assist in a music promotion.The point of the promo pack is to get the music you want to be heard.The package should include some important information and dates to remember such as dates of video being released or date of a concert.Promo packs should be simple as possible-having too much information will make the buyer/audience return it back.

Digipacks are type of CD or DVD packaging made out of card stock or other paper material.Digipacks usually flip open like a book,or it can have three parts,so that one portion of the packaging opens to the right and one to the left,with the CD/DVD in the center.Usually,the portion of the digipack that hold the CD is made of plastic like a traditional jewel case CD - the plastic part is simply attached to the paper background.Some digipacks have pictures or text inside the digipack and on the CD,whereas others are left blank or one-coloured.The point of digipack,either CD or DVD,is to promote the audio/video made by the band.Digipacks can be mainly bought in music stores or online.






The first existing digipack I am going to analyse is by the rock band 'The Cure'. The title in the front cover which is the name of the band and the name of the album, is written in a rather graphitti font with some of the letters left unfinished. The background colour is blue and there are a few stars around the image on the cover which link with the title 'Greatest Hits'.The front cover contains a large image of the vocalist of the band whose body and face can hardly be seen and the emphasis is only on his hands in the foreground which look like they are sending the title as a message to the audience.The cover and back of the digipack have the same colour scheme and there's even a small picture of the cover on the back. The back looks rather simple and empty,but the image of the star,which has a blurring effect gives the back a messy look and also links with the few stars on the cover.The bar code and the information about the legal bits is put at the top of the back page and is written in a smaller shift,suggesting that it's less important.







The second digipack I chose to analyse is the live album 'Live 8 Berlin' by our chosen punk/rock band 'Green Day'.As this is a live DVD album,the image on the cover in the foreground is a long shot of the 3 members of the band followed by an image of Berlin's city buildings in the background.The black and white colours of the DVD and the costumes of the band(shirts,ties,converse) fit with the genre punk/rock and makes the band seem more attractive to the target audience.The name of the band above the cover image is written in black letters and a rather graphite font which is typical for the genre punk.It is followed by the title of the album written in red letters which match with the colour of Billie Joe's tie(the vocalist in the middle).This also suggests that he's the most important member of the band,as he's the vocalist and also one of the founders of their record label 'Adeline Records'.The other two members are pictured in only black and white and they are around Billie Joe,which makes him the first one to be looked at.The spine of the DVD is pure black with the name of the band and album written in the same font as the cover.The contrast between the black background and the white font again creates a punk/rock atmosphere which fits with the genre and appeals the target audience.The spine also includes the DVD logo which identifies the package.
The back cover includes a picture of Billie Joe-the vocalist of the band and it's taken while at the concert which links with the title 'Live 8 Berlin'.The picture is a medium shot,so the audience can see his facial expression as well as his costume and equipment.It's again taken in black and white which fits with the punk genre and also with the album.The guitar he's holding,the microphone on his right side and the drums with the name of the band on them all link with the band's genre and attract the target audience.The font style of the name of the band and album is continued from the cover and the spine of the DVD and has a great effect as it's written in big letters and it's very conventional of the genre.
At the bottom of the back cover there is some additional information included such as the time and venue of the live concert.It's written in smaller font than the rest of the DVD text,which makes it less important.It also includes the band's page if the target audience wants to refer to it.

Below you can see the flat plans I did before creating my digipak:



This was the first idea I had for my DVD digipack.As the song's name we are making a music video for is 'Whatsername',I put an image of the girl.It will be a medium shot but will be in a black shadow,so the audience can hardly recognise her.The idea is to match with the title of the song and the album 'Whatsername'.The name of the band 'Green Day' will be written on the left side of the image in big bold graphite font with some of the letters going over the image.The big graphite font and the green letters will match with the name 'Green Day' and also fit with the punk genre.This will also appeal to the audience as it is right in the middle and will create a messy and rocky atmosphere.The background of the cover will be simply white but will have a great effect because of the contrast between the white background,the green font and the black shadow applied to the image.
The spine of the DVD will have again a white background and it will include the name of the band and the album written in the same fonts as the cover.It will also include 3 little images of the members' faces.I took this idea from one of Blink 182's CD albums(siimilar punk band to Green Day).The idea of the faces on the spine is that so the audience can recognise the members of the band.The images will have the same shadow as the cover image which will create a greater effect and will fit with the punk genre.The DVD logo will be included as this is required for each digipack so it can be identified whether it's a DVD or a CD.
The back cover will have the same white background as the front cover and the spine so it all links and fits together.At the top,the name of the album 'Whatsername' (written in the same font as the cover) will be included and underlined,followed by the album's songs written in black letters.The names of the songs will be written in smaller font than the rest of the text so a contrast can be created.They will still be in rather rocky and graphite font style which will fit with the genre and attract the target audience.



This is an idea for the inside of the DVD.On this flat plan I've kept the inside simple by only including one picture of the band on the left hand side.The image will be a long or medium shot of the band showing some mise-en-scene details from the music video such as costumes,equipments,locations,etc.The image will be taken whilst they are performing for the video so they look more real and attract the audience.Effects will be put on it such as low-key lighting to underline the punk genre and some contrast between the staging at the fore- and background.The right hand side of the inside will be the same white colour with some shadows like the front cover.




This is the second idea I had for my DVD cover.This time the name of the band is written at the top of the cover followed by an image of the two characters from the video in the woods.The name at the top is centre-aligned and written in bold green letters.Below the image you can see the the name of the song again in green letters but written in different font style.This is so it can match with the name of the band,but at the same time it can stand out.The background image of the woods coloured in black and white will fit with the punk genre as most punk videos tend to be filmed at unordinary places such as woods or some old forgotten buildings.The black and white colouring will create again a contrast between the back- and the foreground of the image.The boy and the girl will be wearing the same costumes as the music video which will attract the target audience and also make the cover recognisable.The girl will be in the foreground of the image having her hands in her pockets and looking rather happy whilst the boy will be at the background merged with the black colour of the woods and looking sad and lonely.This will portray an image of a teenage couple who's had a fight or they have broken up.This will fit the narrative story of the music video we are making and also with the punk genre as most punk/rock songs are about love,hate,betrayal,etc.
The spine of the DVD will include the name of the band and the album.They will be written in the same font style as they are on the front cover and the background will be similar.
The name of the band and the album will be included at the top of the back cover written in the same font as the front and it will fit with the punk genre as it will create a contrast between the green letters and the black background.The names of the songs will be included in the middle written in a different font style compared to the rest of the titles but they will still contribute to the punk genre,as I will choose a font typical for this kind of genre.Some band pictures-some from the video and some backstage will be included in a film strip which will be something different compared to the rest of the DVD package but will appeal the target audience,as punk fans like to experiment.The colours will be similar to the pictures so it links with the rest of the cover.Some additional information such as the bar code,price and copyright will be included at the bottom and it will be written in smaller font,suggesting it's not as important and appealing as the rest of the DVD.



This is the inside of the DVD for my second design.I decided to have again a one page image on the left hand side.The image will be a medium/close up shot of the boy and the girl from the video.The girl will be on the left side facing the camera whilst the boy is right next looking at her.This will connect with the title of the album and video 'Whatsername' and the connotation of the image will be that the boy is trying to remember what's the name of the girl standing next to him.The mise-en scene will be taken from the music video and it will be casual clothes which fit with the punk genre.The girl will be wearing either a leather jacket or a hoodie and the boy will be wearing a black hat,black jacket and probably a shirt.
The wall background will go over the right hand of the inside of the DVD.Overall the background will be darker so it can allow a contrast between the wall and the boy and girl.




This is the third design I did for my DVD album.The name of the band will be written in big graphite font and the title of the album will be written in a different font style at the bottom of the page.Both titles will be centre alligned and written in a font appealing to the target audience.The image at the cover will be of the three members of the band.However only their faces and part of their upper body will be visible and the rest will merge with the black background which will fit with the rock genre and attract the audience.The mise-en scene(costumes) of the band will be the same as the video.The vocalist of the band will be in the middle so he can stand out from the rest of the band and the background.Their faces will be coloured in white creating a contrast between them and the black background.This will perfectly fit with Green Day's genre and style as the both colours are often associated with the punk genre.The vocalist will wear a red tie(same as the video),which will stand out from the rest of the cover and will also point out to the title of the band at the bottom of the page.
The spine of the DVD will have the same background colour - starting with green at the top and followed by black.It will contain the required information such as the DVD logo and unique number plus the title and name of the band as an additional information.The fonts will be the same as the the cover so it has consistency and attracts the audience.
The back cover will have again the same background -green at the top and them merging with the black background.The name of the songs will be written at the right side of the page in a font similar to the title of the album but will be in different font size.I will also include some pictures of the band at the back spread out around the page in a way that will create a messy atmosphere and fit the punk/rock genre.The pictures will be shots of the band performing in the music video.
As well as songs of the album and pictures,I will also add some required information on the back cover such as bar code number and copyright information.Website of the band and the label record will also be included so the target audience can make reference to them.



This is the design for the inside of my digipack.On the right side there will be pictures of the band from their performing in the video or behind the scenes.The background behind the pictures will be the same as the cover of the DVD or in similar colours conventional to the punk genre and appealing to the audience.I think having pictures of the band performing or behind the scene with all the music equipment will be very appealing to the fans and the audience will be able to get pictures which won't be available on the Internet.The left side of the inside will be again filled up with pictures of the band or only in black and white similar to the front cover.



Finished digipack:
DVD cover:


DVD cover - inside:


Evaluation of my finished digipack can be found in the last post 'Evaluation'.

Blog 14 Shooting Diaries

We started filming at the beginning of 2011 and finished by March 8th.We followed the storyboard we did throughout the filming.There are 3 persons in our group so each of us contributed to the project.The boy and I(the main girl) were the main characters in the video and the third person in our group did the most of filming.However I also contributed to the project by filming a little bit and providing some things we needed in the video such as photos of the boy and girl.Because our music video has a band performance along the story,we had to find 3 boys who could play pretending to be Green Day.We did one day of filming just the band and we managed to film everything we needed for the band performance part.The filming of the band took place in the TV studio in our college and the equipment required such as quitars,drums,microphones,etc were provided by the band themselves.

However we experienced some difficulties with the shooting during these 2 months.Most of the days we had to film it was raining,so we couldn't do any work outside.As there is a limited amount of equipment in the college such as cameras and Mac laptops/computers,we found it hard to book the equipment outside media lessons and do extra work.Sometimes not all members of the group were present,so this also affected our time for filming.Another difficulty we experienced was finding an extra guy to be in our video,as we needed another boy to be the girl's new boyfriend.

Due to the short amount of media lessons(1 per week),we had to come in in other time such as after the lesson or in other days and do some extra work.Finally we managed to get it all done by mid March and started editting which also takes a lot of time.


Here's the call sheet with all the numbers of members contributed to the music video:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1JR4gOQbA9vNDNlNGE2YTYtYWE0Ni00NGZkLTg1ODUtMzVmNTY0ZWRkZDU4&hl=en&authkey=CP-QpZYJ

Blog 13 Shooting Schedule

Most of the scenes of our video will be filmed in our practical lessons(Tuesdays and sometimes Fridays).We have also arranged some extra hours outside lessons time(in our breaks or outside college).

First week of shooting:
Shots of the band performing.We will get those shots done at the beginning,so then we can focus on shooting the rest of the video(the story) which is going to be more complicated and challenging.

Equipment:
We will use quitars/drums and microphones for the performance of the band.Those will be provided by the band themselves.

Locations:
One of the music studios at Lewes college - where the band performance will be shooted.
A back up location will be the field behind the Southover building.

Corridors in Southover building/canteen or buttery/outside Cliffe and Southover buildig/Lewes town- this is where the girl and her friends/new boyfriend will be filmed

Marcus's room: This will be where he wakes up in his bed being upset because he's alone.

Blog 12 Health and Safety

When filming we had to make sure that everything is safe and there is no danger to the equipment or the people contributing to the video. It was important to understand the potential risks to the filming and to identify them before we film to make sure the whole filming process goes as smooth as possible.
Everytime we booked the cameras,we had to sign a Risk Assesment form.
When filming outside,we had to make sure there weren't any threats to the equipment we used.For example,in the first scene where the boy and the girl meet,we had to make sure there were no cars on the road where the cameras were located.
Some days the weather was bad and we had to make sure that cameras are covered somehow and they won't get wet or damaged by the weather.We also had to ensure that there will be no threats from the general public.For example,when filming outside the college buildings, we had to make sure that nobody walking past will take or harm the equipment used.
The band performance for our video was filmed in the TV studio at college.We had to set up all the music equipment,lights and camera setting and ensure that there are no cables on the floor which will disturb the camera on the dolly.We also had to ensure that there wasn't any other noise coming from outside the studio.

Blog 11 Storyboard and Animatic

To start with,we had to create a story board for the music video.However this is our first plan for the video and we might make few changes later on.

Blog 10 Mise-en-scene

After looking at different Green Day's videos and other similar punk bands,we saw that most videos consist of band performance and a story.We decided our video to be simple as possible - including a few people and locations. The locations we choose are in Lewes(near our college) and a few inside the college such as the buttery in on of the buildings and some corridors. We found a few alleys near the college and the train station which we thought would be good for our video and will associate with the punk genre.
Below you can see some of the locations we chose to shoot our video at:

This is one of the corridors in one of the college's buildings.Here we will shoot some scenes with the girl walking down the corridor or looking straight at the camera,when the band sings the lyrics '..whatsername again'.It will be a close up shot which will represent the emotions of the girl and the audience will get to know her better.


This is a picture of the buttery in one of the buildings.This scene will be when the boy has flashbacks of him and the girl being together.Both of them will be wearing casual clothes such as leather jacket for the girl and jeans or casual purple dress.The boy will be dressed in black - black jacket,hat,glasses and jeans.These costumes will contribute to the representation of the punk genre as most punk artist wear dark and leather clothes.Low-key lighting will be used when the boy wakes up and realises he's alone and the flashbacks will be either in black and white or high-key lighting which will represent happiness.



This picture shows the main road between the 2 buildings of Lewes college.Here will be shot the first scene where the boy and girl meet(as a flashback).Then he will wake up in the buttery as I explained in the above picture.The costumes of the characters wil be the same-leather jacket for the girl and black clothes for the boy.These road locations will contribute to the punk genre as most punk/rock videos are filmed outside on the streets or in woods/alleys.



This is a shot of the girl which will be in the video.We will not use heavy make-up as most female punk artist do,as we want to concentrate on her naturality.However the make-up we will use will be black eye-liner/black mascara and foundation.She will be wearing different costumes in the scenes.


This picture of the lake and the surrounding trees will be one of our locations.This wood atmosphere will link and contribute to the punk genre and also the name of the band 'Green Day'.Here we will take some shots of the boy burning photos of him and the girl being together.This location is perfect for the boy burning the photos and expressing his feelings as nobody else will be there.The reason we chose this location is because it represents the wild and at the same time relaxing atmosphere.

Blog 9 Pitch

After deciding the locations,costumes and details for the band we had to present our ideas in front of the class.We found information about Green Day's audience and the magazines they have featured in.We also had to discuss our music video ideas and how they will appeal to the current audience.


Here is a link to the presentation we created in the previous lessons:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1JR4gOQbA9vOTJjZjFhMTktYjgxNS00N2RiLWIxODItNDNkYmY1YTkzMTA4&hl=en

Here is the video of our presentation:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_4bVkmSsWxZZTE3NDRmM2YtYzNjZi00MTJlLTgxNjUtY2EzNGYyZTk2Nzg2&hl=en

Blog 8 Initial Ideas

Our music video 'Whatsername' by Green Day will be a mix between band performance and story acted out.The story will be about a past relationship between a boy and a girl who will be also the main characters in the video.

The first scene will be the boy and the girl meeting on the street and start talking,looking very happy,but then the clip will fade out and it will show the boy lying in a bed dreaming about meeting the girl.(This fits with the lyrics of: Thought I ran into you down on the street, Then it turned out to only be a dream.

The guy then wakes up alone in his bed looking sad and lonely.

At some parts of the video there will be flashbacks of the boy and girl together in the past.We will use editing and specific low key lightning to point out that it had happened in the past.There will be some scenes where they are happy, and some scenes where their relationship starts to end. The flashbacks will also include their actual break up.All flashbacks will be slightly discoloured/edited to clearly show they are past memories.

The scenes with the boy that we will be set to be in the 'present’ will include one shots and close ups to underline the loneliness and his sad facial expressions.One scene will show the boy looking at old photographs of him with the girl, and then getting upset and angry followed by burning the photographs.(This fits with the lyrics of: I made a point to burn all of the photographs)

The final scene will be similar to the opening scene but instead, when the boy bumps into the girl,she is with her new boyfriend and they both just ignore the boy and walk straight past him.The boy will then just stand there alone (facing towards the camera in one-shot and the tracking camera gradually moving backward,whilst the girl and her new boyfriend walk off in the distance.

The parts of the video whit the band playing will be filmed first.Then at the end we will put the band performance and the actual story together.Shots of the bands will be mainly middle-shots and close-ups to show details of instruments,costumes,locations,etc.Some extra close-ups will be used too.

We will also use close-up shots when filming the boy and the girl together to reinforce the closeness they had in the past and mainly close-ups of the girl as the song is about her and the audience can get to know her better.