Research Into Print Artefacts: Album Cover

I conducted some research into existing print artefacts so I was able to see if there were any evident codes and conventions I should be following. I decided upon creating an album cover and DVD cover as part of the release, alongside the track. I looked at various album covers of female pop artists, taking into consideration the effect of: lighting, font, colours and size of text. I established that there was a lot of focus on the artist for the albums that I looked at, none were abstract, instead they were simple with the focus being on the artist. Here I have analysed the different album covers:

Duffy - Rockferry:

Duffy's album cover is in black and white, which gives it a classy, sophisticated feel. The font used for the title is simple and understated. In the photo used on the album she looks quite sad, which goes with the theme of her album, as she covers heartfelt, reflective and at times sad encounters of relationships. Her expression and feeling in the image make a person who hasn't heard her music assume it is soulful and that there will probably be ballads on it. The latter, being true.


Rihanna - A Girl Like Me:

The lighting used in this image is quite bright, yet natural. We can see that it is sunny, as the sun is picking up tones in Rihanna's hair. As the sun is associated with a feel-good feeling, the lighting used in the image gives the connotation that Rihanna's album will consist of feel-good music. Her exotic look accentuated by the make-up she is wearing merely suggests that the music on there may have influences of various cultural music, this is true as there are many tracks on the album that sample dancehall and reggae beats. Again, the focus is on the artist and the font used is simple and understated.


Adele - 19:

The colour black usually suggests darkness, used on this album cover I think that it suggests a dark album, by this I mean heartfelt songs with deep meaning that come through with the lyrics of the songs; suggesting that the contents of this album are very soulful songs. This shot of Adele's face doesn't really show her face properly, giving someone an unclear picture of what she looks like, posing a question of anonymity. This may have been purposeful, so that the focus remains simply on Adele's music. The font used is simple, again this simple cover is so that the focus is kept on the music made by the artist.


Corinne Bailey Rae - Corrine Bailey Rae:

The first thing that draws my attention about this album cover is the design of the drawing on the side. To me, this drawing suggests creativity and personality. The font used is different to the others, again suggesting creativity and personality. This might make a person who doesn't know the artist to think that the album consists of different genres of music. The cover suggests that the artist is unique, as there aren't many album covers like this. The lighting used is quite bright, yet natural; making the artist seem classy. The lighting is reminiscent of summer, giving the connotation that this album is perfect for soulful, summery ballads; great for someone who is looking to listen to something laid-back.

Editing

Editing:

Once I had all of the footage I needed I was able to begin my editing process, using Final Cut Pro. I started by watching my footage back on the full computer screen, just in case there was anything that I had missed or hadn't noticed in the shot. I then logged and captured my work onto the computer so I could cut parts of the footage to get the correct footage that was needed. Once I had assembled the footage that I needed I dragged it onto the timeline, so I could move it about or experiment with other footage. The next step was adding the track to the timeline, so that I was able to ensure that my actresses miming was in sync to the song. I already had a rough idea of how I wanted my video to look, although I was aware that when it came to editing I might aspire new ideas, as I may learn something new.

The opening sequence of my video begins with the actress singing the first line of the song, it then cuts to a handheld shot of me walking behind her, to give the illusion it is the guy that she is singing about walking behind her, (''watching me like you never watch no-one/Don't tell me that you didn't try and check out my bum''). There are then a series of shots which I have cropped to incorporate different types of framing and to add variety to my shots.

Another way I have made use of editing is by changing the position of my shot. I took part of my footage where the actress is singing against the brick wall and zoomed into it so it looked like a close-up shot. I then moved the position of where my actress was stood by turning the shot so it was at an angle, to make it look as though she was leaning against the wall at a low angle. I then added a video filter (solarize) to change the effect and make the shot seem more animated.

I managed to edit the footage I had of my actress sitting on the bench in the park; I cut the parts of the footage where she was sitting in different positions and then put it on the timeline to look as though it was continuous. In the last position I reversed the shot so that she moves back to where she was sitting before. I wanted to show her by herself so that it would go with the songs lyrics, "I can be alone yeah/I can watch a sunset on my own". Her constant shuffling around on the bench gives the impression that time is passing, which is why I did that shot.

When it came to the footage I had of my actress walking on the pathway in the park I wanted to experiment and really see if I could take advantage of the editing software to create something more visually interesting that already decided. I used the different parts of her walking on the pathway and reversed them to look as though she was walking backwards and put them in between clips of her singing and then superimposed/layered her walking in the different parts of the pathway so that it looked as though there were three 'copies' of my actress walking at the same time, on the same path. Again, I wanted this to show the essence of time passing by to fit in with the lyrics of the song.

For the next part of the video, I wanted to make full use of all of my shots. I dragged the footage I had of my actress standing against a pink wall singing onto the timeline and cut it in several places. I started off these shots by cropping the first shot so that it was quite small and then for every part that I cut, I made the shots slowly begin to get bigger and bigger, until the last shot was almost full-screen size.

The last part of the footage that I edited was the clouds. I first started editing the footage of the clouds and experimenting with the it just to get a feel of the various things that I could do in editing. I changed the speed of the clouds to about 2000x, making them move a lot faster than they were. Again this was to give the illusion of time passing by. I then cut parts of the clouds, gradually changing the colour of them so that they transformed into pink clouds. I chose pink as I thought it looked the most visually pleasing out of all of the other colours. From pink I then made them gradually change back again into blue. I placed the footage of my actress looking up at the clouds before this so she is seen looking at the clouds, and then it seems as though the clouds are seen from her perspective.

To show the positivity of the song and the fact that my actress is now happy that she can be ''alone'' and enjoy her own company. I decided to use a shot of my actress laughing. I did not intend to use this shot until it came to editing, but then I saw that it meant that the video ended on a good note. I did record shots of my actress laughing although these were extra and at first I had no intention of putting them in. I think that this shot brings the video to a nice close.

Throughout editing I asked people for feedback, often asking my friends to watch what I had completed so far so I could work on any criticisms they gave me. No one really had any criticisms, apart from in my early editing stages, where they commented that syncing was a problem. After I managed to fix this, most of the comments were positive, and people said that the syncing was very good.

Overall, editing has been a lengthy and at times tedious process, but throughout it I have been able to improve my ideas for the use of my footage and have become more confident in my editing and computer skills. I was amazed at what I could do with the editing software to create a more visually interesting product and I am the most proud of my cloud sequence. Although it took a long time to get it just right, it has been worth it and I feel my shots fit together nicely giving my work a more professional look. Getting my actresses miming in sync was also more difficult than expected but I believe my hard work and effort has paid off, as I am very pleased with my music video.

Filming

Filming - Day 1:
The first part of my filming process was initially gathering the equipment needed for filming and making sure it was sufficient for filming. The day before filming, I made sure that the camera was fully charged, so that it would not run out of battery whilst filming. Even though it would have been easy to charge even if there wasn't enough battery, as I was filming outside my house, there was the issue of lighting that I had to consider. As it is the time of year when it gets dark fairly quickly I didn't want to waste anytime having to charge the camera. To ensure good lighting, I proceeded filming at 1pm. The location for this footage was just outside of my house, against a brick wall. I wanted to use this brick wall as the album is called 'Made Of Bricks' and I wanted to capture a still from the footage so I was able to use a still of my actress against the brick wall for when I created my album cover, as it fits in with the imagery of the albums title. For lighting, the weather on this day was quite good, it was fairly bright although it was windy and cold. However, this does not come across on the footage I have captured, as my actress did a great job, she worked well following my instructions and her miming was in sync with the song. I didn't encounter any problems for sound, as the track was played through my iPod, which was connected to a docking station. I placed the docking station close to the actress so she could hear the song clearly and be able to mime along in sync. The only bad thing I would say about this day was that there was always the anticipation of rain, however, luckily it was fairly dry. I was able to relax more when the shots of my actress against the brick wall were done, as the next few shots I needed were going to be filmed inside and I therefore didn't have to worry about the lighting or weather.I feel that the first day of filming went well and through playing back the footage captured on the camera I was happy with it, as I will be able to use most of it.

Filming - Day 2:
The second day of filming was like the first day, but quicker. Although I knew what parts of the song I needed (as I had watched the footage captured from day one) I thought it would be wise to still get extra footage just in case it was needed, so instead of getting my actress to sing to the parts I needed, I simply asked her to do the whole song. Day two of filming generally consisted of more shots against the brick wall, but this time I asked my actress to wear a different outfit. On this day I was more experimental, as I included shots with movement and asked my actress to position herself in different places against the brick wall, to vary the shots. I particularly liked the footage with movement, as I felt it added more to the video, instead of my actress just singing against the wall, this time I made her dance along to the song whilst I used the tripod to mimic her movements. The weather on this day was better in my opinion that day one, as it was brighter and less cloudier, although unfortunately it was still cold and windy.

Filming - Day 3:
The third (and final) day of filming was the most easiest, as these were the shots in the park and of the clouds. I needed three shots of my actress sitting on the bench in three different positions, three shots of my actress walking on a pathway in the park, in three different positions and one shot of my actress leaning against a tree, looking up at the clouds. I found this footage was quick and easy to film and didn't take much time and to ensure the lighting was clear and bright I chose to film early in the morning, at about 10am. This enabled me to have the rest of the time to film my clouds, while it was still bright. Luckily the clouds looked really good and because it was windy they were moving quite fast. I set the camera on the tripod away from direct sunlight to ensure that no damage was done and left it running for twenty minutes. To check that I had enough footage of the clouds I played it back on the camera, but watched it whilst it was forwaded, as I was going to change the speed in editing anyway, to make them appear to be moving faster. Overall, I feel my filming went really well, I am very happy with the footage I have captured and can now proceed to log and capture my footage off the DV tapes I have used so I can then move onto the editing stage.

Production Schedule & Contingency Plan

I will be filming in Redhouse Park, getting my actress to walk on a pathway in the park, so it shows her being by herself and therefore fitting in with the lyrics of the song. As the album I am promoting is called 'Made Of Bricks', I thought it was appropriate for me to get footage of my actress standing against a brick wall. Most of the video will consist mainly of this footage, getting different shots from different angles to vary the footage. I will be filming this part of the footage just outside my house.

After checking with my actress regarding both of our schedules and when we will both be available to film, I will be able to film once a week from 19/10/09 up until 9/11/09. In preparation for my filming, I will be checking the weather in advance, so just in case the weather is bad I can rearrange my filming for another day.

Health & Safety issues/concerns - After assessing my filming plans, I have concluded that there are no health and safety issues or concerns.

Permission - Permission is not needed for me to film at my chosen locations as I will be filming on my property and the park is a public location.

Camera equipment - Camera, Battery Charger & Tripod

Casting

The actress in my music video is Theresa-Ann Whitton-Lovelace. I will only be requiring one actor for my video and no props are needed. I have asked that she wear different outfits on the different days that we are filming. I have also given Theresa a copy of the song along with the song lyrics so she is able to learn the song in advance. This will help when it comes to miming the song, as the better it is mimed the easier editing will be. Also to look more professional the footage of her miming will have to be in sync with the song, (although all of this will be taken care of when it comes to editing the footage).

Theresa will be playing the character of the singer in the video. I have spoken to her about what she will be required to do on the days of filming and she is happy with what she has to do. She will have to walk on a pathway in the park and sit on a bench in the park, other than that most of the footage will be of Theresa miming to the song. She will have to mime to the song many times, as I will require various diiferent shots from different angles. She is aware of this and willing to do this. I am very thankful for her cooperation and grateful for her help.