Ancillary Task - Advert

This is our groups advert cover and what it would look like placed into a magazine. We decided to place our advert inside NME magazine as this is a music magazine in which similar bands to ours feature in. Our advert is itself placed by article on 'Combat Rock' although not entirely the same genre as our band it shares many of the same elements.

To produce this advert we followed the same design process as our album cover. The idea for this advert was based upon my final advert design.

We decided to add a quote in as we felt the advert whilst good and eye catching didn't tell you what genre the band was, with the quote of "A refreshing take on the Indie genre" this was now unmistakable, the quote is also from a reliable magazine NME.

We chose the colours yellow and purple for the text and background because they are very similar to a big named brand 'The 99' ice cream, we felt that the band could ride the success and reputation of this brand to increase their own. We chose to put three ice creams on as there is three members in the band, it also represent the three stages of producing anything not just music which are planning/research stage, the construction stage and the evaluation/feedback stage. Our advert is very different from our album cover on purpose we wanted them to be distinct from each other so that they could exist in their own right and not only with each other.

We didn't actually have a a copy of NME magazine or any music magazine in fact. To overcome this problem we decided to digitally place our magazine into one instead.



We then added similar magazine to increase the immersion and believability of the advert. This was done in Adobe Photoshop CS3

Ancillary Task - Album Cover

This is our final version of our album cover (front and back). Using the umbrella's for the album cover ties in with some key shots of our music video. For example in one chorus the band can be seen dancing with umbrella's this creates a visual anchor point for the audience as they will associate them with each other. We decided to make our album cover feel 'summery' as the song used in our music video has an upbeat tempo and feels 'summery' itself. The shadow we added to the umbrella's and flowers help create this effect by making it look like it is sunny. Our album cover is very different from our advert on purpose we wanted them to be distinct from each other so that they could exist in their own right and not only with each other.

I will now go through the steps we used to create our album cover.

Before we could start working on a final design we each came up with our own separate album cover ideas. As a group we decided we liked Jack's design the best and so we produced a mock version of what this would look like on a computer using Adobe Photoshop CS3:

To create this we took a photo of an umbrella open and one of an umbrella closed from a high angle, we then cut these images out and placed them onto a grass background. We changed the colours of the different umbrella sections and then finally we added some basic text for the "'S".


This gave us a basic idea to work our final product from.

For our final version we used a different umbrella, one that could open properly and also that had the colours we wanted already in the segments. This saved us from having to edit them during post production. We also used a higher resolution camera so that the picture would be a higher quality. We used the same technique as before by taking a photo of the umbrella open and closed from a high angle. We then cut them out using Adobe Photoshop CS3 and added a grass background.



Instead of using text for the "'S" we decided to use flowers.


We then added a shadow to all the elements to make it look like it was sunny day to reflect the upbeat tempo of our music video and song.

For the back of our album cover we used the same image as the front but this time we see it from much closer up. We then added the text using the same font for the advert and music video. We added the same grass background and then added the shadows to replicate the summery feel generated by the front of the album.

Advert

This is my idea for our advert. I based my idea on one of my album cover idea's so that the to would be linked together and you would be able to recognise them as coming from the same band. The creation process was also very similar to the album cover idea

I first sketched out a rough idea. I chose to do a simplistic design to keep focus on the key features. I also believe that the more simple a design is the more successful it will be as there are less elements that can go wrong. The ice cream sign again is a prominent feature in this design except this time there are three of them. I chose to do three to represent the three members in the band. In this design the ice creams are all the same colour or colours with white, brown and cream being used in each to represent the different parts of an ice cream with a flake. The text in this design is very generic and creates a sense of familiarity with the viewer without distracting them to much from the ice cream signs. I was undecided on a background colour at this stage of the design.

I then created the design on a computer using Adobe Photoshop CS3 this allowed me to do more to the image and manipulate in more sophisticated ways than using a program such as Paint or even hand drawing my final design.

Anamatic

This is our anamatic for our music video 'Oh me oh my' by the 99s. I am pleased with our anamatic as it allowed us to see a rough idea of what our music video what look like. It also enabled us to see what shots and ideas would work well with the section of the music they were paired with. If conflict arose between the music and shot it gave us an idea of how we could resolve this problem by moving the shot into a new position.

We change from narrative to performance in the throughout the video. We did this to stick to basic music video conventions as the majority of music videos do this. This is because it allows to show that the band members are in fact talented and can play the instruments they are using and it allows them to tell a story to keep the viewer engaged as some people would get bored of watching three to five minutes of solid performance. However in our anamatic the only performance shots we have are of the people playing the band members singing without playing instruments. This will change as we have arranged to film using the instruments that are featured within in the song.

We had many good ideas in my opinion, in particular the shot were the band member are dancing with the umbrellas, we gathered the inspiration for this idea from the 'Park Life' video from 'Blur'. This was done to add comic elements to our video as the main narrative is about a boy and a girl breaking up. Without the comic elements in the video the narrative would be to serious for what is quite a lively song.

My favourite shot in the video and the anamatic is the Abbey Road shot were we pay homage to The Beatles Abbey Road album cover. In this shot we have the main boy walking across a zebra crossing to meet the girl. We decided to do this shot because The 99s cite The Beatles as one of their biggest influences and inspirations.

Overall I thought that our storyboard and shots fitted together well with the music. I also feel that our team worked well together as a unit to produce the ideas for the shots and to produce the anamatic. We gelled well together and were able to bounce ideas of each to make the anamatic into a success.

Album cover ideas

Before we started to produce a final group album cover we had to individually create one. I produced three initial ideas on paper before producing a final version of each on photoshop. I decided as the bands name is the 99's that I would try and incorporate an ice cream into the design of the album cover. Hopefully this would make people associate the relatively unknown (although growing in popularity) which the iconic 99 ice cream from Flake.

Idea One:

This is my first idea sketched out. I have gone for a very simplistic style on this album cover with only 4 elements to it, I did this because it helps keep the focus on the key elements. The white background, the blue pencil across the page, the iconic ice cream sign and the text 'The 99s'. Keeping the album cover simple allows the black ice cream sign to be more noticeable and act as a vocal point as it stands out from the blue pencil very well. It is also situated in the centre and automatically addresses the viewers interest becuase of this. As this is a self titled album I only needed one text, this helps again keep the album cover uncluttered and keeps the viewers attention on the ice cream sign and 'The 99s' text.

Idea One final:

This is the final version of my first idea. I used photoshop to produce the image as I feel the results I desired the best. As you can see the black ice cream sign stands our well against the white background and the blue pencil. The only thing I have changed from the original design is the colour and position of the text. I did this becuase I felt it would make it stand out more without detracting focus from the ice cream sign. I feel I achieved this. I also produced the back for this idea:


I keep the back similar to the front to keep the album consistent. I also removed the ice cream sign from the centre and placed the song names there as they are know the main focus.


Idea Two:

This is my second idea sketched out. Again I have gone for a simplistic style so that the focus is again kept on the important elements in the picture. In this idea I have neon ice cream sign on a Polaroid lying on a table. The Polaroid has the name of the band and album on it 'The 99s'. The Polaroid background is black and allows the neon ice cream sign to stand out drawing more attention to it.

Idea Two Final:

This is the final version of my second idea. Again I used photoshop to produce the image as it had the tools I needed to successfully realise my idea. As you can see the neon ice cream sign stand well against the dark background of the Polaroid. This again draws attention to it successfully reinforcing the link between the ice cream sign and the 99s. As mentioned earlier i keep the idea of naming the Polaroid 'The 99s' after the band and the album, this adds a personal touch to the image as you would normally right what the image is about on a Polaroid. I decided to use a more friendly font and chose to you a custom one I found on the internet. This one was designed to look more like someone's handwriting again reinforcing the point above. I decided to add a table underneath the Polaroid to make it seem more realistic than if it was simply up a white or black ground. These also caused problems as with a white background the Polaroid didn't stand out enough and with a black background the black in the Polaroid didn't. I feel that the transition from idea to final idea was successful and happy with the result of my second idea. I also produced the back image of the album for this idea:

Again I have purposefully kept the back similar to the front to remain consistent.I also removed the ice cream sign from the back and replaced it with the song names. You can see here clearer that the font I used looks more like someone's natural handwriting which add a more personal touch which is what I had originally set out to achieve with the Polaroid.

Idea Three:

This is my third and final idea that i sketched out. I chose to do another simplistic design to keep focus on the key features. I also believe that the more simple a design is the more successful it will be as there are less elements that can go wrong. The ice cream sign again is a prominent feature in this design except this time there are three of them. I chose to do three to represent the three members in the band. In this design the ice creams are all the same colour or colours with white, brown and cream being used in each to represent the different parts of an ice cream with a flake. The text in this design is very generic and creates a sense of familiarity with the viewer without distracting them to much from the ice cream signs. I was undecided on a background colour at this stage of the design.

Idea Three Final:

This is the final version of my third idea. Like the other designs i used photoshop to produce the image as it had served me well before. I made some minor adjustments from my original design. I decided to stick with the three ice cream cone signs however i changed the colours from cream, brown and white to white, grey and black. I did this because i felt it gave a more professional look to the album cover. The cream, brown and white also clashed with the yellow background which made it difficult to see some of the colours. I decided to use yellow for the background colour as it is a very bright colour and this fits in with the bands genre. The colour yellow is also very eye catching and draws the viewers attention to the album. I changed the type of font I used as well, I felt this made it more accessible to people as the other more traditional fonts I tried were to linear and predictable. I used this have used this font in earlier design ideas and like it a lot.

This is the back for my third idea:

Unlike my other ideas I have changed the back on this one from the three ice cream cone signs to just one laying at an angle. I originally tried black text with this design as black and yellow is a good combination that attracts attention however due to the ice cream cone sign being black some of the text wasn't visible so I decided to use the white text instead.

Album cover analysis

I have chosen to analyse 'The back room' by The Editors. As this band is in a similar genre to the band I will be producing a music video for I thought it would be appropriate to do.

The main image used on the album cover is of a hallway in which several arches are prominently featured. Lighting and post production effects are very cleverly used here to create 3 distinct colours which capture the viewers eyes, these being white, grey and black. Grey scaling the image in photo manipulation software such as photo shop would have created this effect. The lighting is coming from the high on the right of the image which creates small shadows against each individual arch making the viewer focus on them.

The text draws its colour from the original image being white. This keeps a consistency between the text and the image but also allows it to stand out with the white being on a black background. The text itself is very simplistic with just the band name and the album name showing. As both texts are centred they draw you to the arch image in the middle again.

On the back of the album the main image is of a window in a wall. Similar to the front image they are exploring lighting effects with the window letting a burst of light through onto the floor. The Same three colours are used - grey, white and black. This helps create a flowing feel between the front and back of the album. Post production effects would have been used again to create the black and white image.

The text again is very simple and draws its colour from the background image being white. It is placed onto the left hand side of the image so that the window and the light coming through it can be seen clearly.

I would class both images on the album as being abstract as they really don't bare any relation to the band or the type of music that they produce. From this we can deduce that this album is aimed at current fans who are already familiar with the band and the type of music that they produce, rather than at trying to introduce new fans to their music.

Email to client

Here is the email to the client asking for permission to use their song.


Here is the dialogue from the email:

Here is the print screen of our email that we send to one of the members of the band The 99’s. You will see what I send to the band member James Loughlin, and what his response to me was.

Just so you know what the email is saying will paste the email below, so you will be able to read it.

From: routyboy@hotmail.com
To: jamesloughlin@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: Music Video Proposal
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 20:25:06 +0100


Hi James,

I have been listening to your music for a while now, and me and a group of friends wish to make a music video for either Rooftop, Sunshine or Eymet, the reason I am asking you this is because we need to make a music video for our Media A-Level, and me and my friends think your style of music is perfect for us to use to get the best mark out of our course, and before we go ahead with this we need to gain your permission as well as Adam's & Johnny's. If you choose to accept then we will email you keeping you up to date on our progress, and hopefully you will like our finished product. So please take us up on our offer, it would be a great help and you will definately benefit from this as well, and please get back to me on whatever your decision is, because I will need to know either way. Thanks

Yours Sincerely, Steven Rout :D

From: jamesloughlin@hotmail.co.uk
To: routyboy@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: Music Video Proposal
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 2010 19:33:01 +0000

Hello guys,

You're ok to use the songs if you like that's fine with me. Try and make it tasteful, not like the guys who did "oh me oh my" who filmed some dodgy bedroom scene with a bloke tied up.
Turned out to be terrible and its on youtube now too without our permission!!

Keep us posted!

Good luck!
Jimmy

From: routyboy@hotmail.com
To: jamesloughlin@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: RE: Music Video Proposal
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:45:00 +0100

Hi James,

Would it be alright with you if we made a video for Oh Me, Oh My, because we have some cool ideas for this song, but we thought the guys on youtube, video was actually the official video, so our teacher told us to leave it alone but seen as it turns out it is'nt, would we be able to use it.

Cheers
Steven Rout :D

Hi Steven,

If that was the official video, we'd have a pretty gay video for the tune.
dont know who did that!! But yeah you can use the track if you wish.
Just make it far cooler than the other video for that on youtube!

Cheers,
Jimmy 99s

Pitch

In our pitch we discuss our plan for The 99's song Oh me oh my music video. We talk about the bands image and how this is reflected in their genre and what possible ideas could stem from this. For example what other bands in their genre have done with their music videos and how we could implement them into ours. We also discuss the bands target audience, this is linked in the the bands image and ideas we could use for the video as they would have to be age appropriate. Our own original ideas are also discussed in the course of the pitch.

Practical elements and problems that could arise from them were also discussed. Like the lack of a budget, this means that we have to keep our ideas to a minimum cost so nothing to extravagant could be used. Acquiring instruments could also be a problem, this can be overcome however by borrowing them from the college.

Overall I am satisfied with our groups pitch. I feel that we got across our ideas and points relatively well although we could have been a bit more clear and precise in places. We also failed to fully develop our ideas therefore some areas of the pitch are lacking in detail and the confidence in which we deliver them.

Lip Synch

To start with we had to choose a song. This had to be one that we all knew or at least were familiar with. We looked at many but eventually came to the decision to use 'When The Sun Goes Down' by the 'Arctic Monkeys'. After choosing the song we then did a rough plan of shots we wanted to feature in the video. We then used my phone to play the music while we sang along. we chose to sing along with the song so that the pronunciation of words looked more real. After we had filmed all the shots we wanted we uploaded and edited.

Several things worked well when producing the video. I felt the lip syncing was done to a good standard although it was lost in a few places when the words were muddled. The long shots were we are pretending to play instruments I also feel worked well. The shot were Jack is walking with the camera and singing I also feel works really well.

If we could film again we would make several changes. We would re film the the shots where the lip syncing was lost as this made the video look some what amateurish. We would also re film the shot where Ben and Jack are split screen and reduce the head movement so the shot would work better.

We have learned a lot whilst producing this video. We have learnt that you should plan your shots before filming and check them before editing to see if they need to be re filmed. We have also leaned how to time the lip syncs together to produce a successful video.

Power Point

Our groups Power Point:

Evaluation Questions

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?
We researched several many thrillers and decided to go down the route of murder/crime thriller. I feel we achieve this successfully and support current media conventions. Like other thriller texts ours creates a high level of tension, again supporting current media conventions.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Our media text represents different social groups. Our main audience is of course the younger generation of 15-24, the main cinema going age. The murder victim is a young blonde female which will attract mostly a male audience, but also a female audience who may be able to identify with her. The detective is also a character that people would be able to identify with, 24+ males would be able to. The crime element of our thriller will also help to attract an older audience just like the thriller aspect helps attract a younger audience.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
Small media institutions would distribute our media text. There would be more than one company therefore no one will have complete control over it. A wide distribution could be achieved by doing this.

Who would be the audience for you media product?
Our main audience would be males between the ages of 15 and 24. As this is the main cinema going age. However an older audience would also be attracted by several elements in the film.

How did you attract/address your audience?
We chose a narrative that would attract a wide audience and which could develop into a high suspense media text. To create an atmosphere we used different sound effects and music. To attract a young audience we have young characters which they can relate to similarly for the older audience.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
As I have had previous experience with using camera equipment and editing software I already had a good knowledge of how to use them effectively. However I have now had more practise using them so I now feel more confident when using the camera or the editing software. I have also had to upload videos and pictures to my blog which I also now feel more confident doing. As well as uploading to my blog i had to upload to Youtube, which I now also feel more confident doing.

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
We worked in the same groups for the preliminary task and the final task. As a result of this I feel our communication personally and as a group has improved exponentially, we now all feel confident expressing ideas and constructive criticisms. My understanding of media consumers has also greatly improved allowing me to improve my media work in the present and future.

The Final Cut

Our Final Cut:


We made several changes from the rough cut to the final cut. The main thing we had to change was how long our media text was, in the rough cut it is 2:10 this was 10 seconds over our target time. We managed to cut down the time in the final cut to exactly 2:00. We moved the films title sequence from the front to the back of the extract, we did this because we felt that the opening seconds didn't have enough action in and would have already turned the audience off.

We made several changes to the murder/serial killer sequences. Firstly we changed them to night time, using editing software, then secondly to black and white. We felt this created several good effects, it made the scenes appear more darker like they were originally intended to be. The black and white also creates an interesting effect, it adds emphasis to what is happening in the text forcing the audience to take notice of it. We have added the sound effect to the text. In the opening few scenes you can hear a storm, this creates a very dark atmosphere which is the effect we were looking for. The sound effect of the alarm clock has also been added. Background music is also playing over the detective scenes as we felt they contained less action than the opening few.

If we could change anything in the production it would be the some of the continuity errors. The two biggest errors were when the serial killer is stabbing the victim the blade changes hands. The other is also during one of the serial killer scenes, during the knife scraping Ellen's handbag appears out of nowhere. We tried to correct this in editing as it appear in two shots. Once of them we could the other we were less successful so the handbag remains.

Overall we were are very happy with our final production, we think we worked well as a group - communicating properly and sharing and improving ideas for the storyline, storyboard camera angles and in editing.

Rough Cut

Our Rough Cut:


We finished editing the rough cut. There is no added sound and the clips are edited together roughly. This is because the rough cut is just meant to give you an idea of what the finished text will look like. As Katie wasn't at the filming she did most of the editing. We had to change some of the shots from our storyboard around. These are the shots that are in the rough cut that differ from the storyboard.

The first change we made was to move the over the shoulder blade cleaning shot around. We did this because we felt it looked better and created a better atmosphere this way. We then changed the angle we filmed certain shots at, for example in the shot were the serial killer is moving Polaroids around, this was originally an over the shoulder shot, we changed this though as it was easier to film from a different angle and represented what we wanted to better. This is because you can only see what is on the Polaroids slightly creating an air of mystery. Following this shot is another change we made. Instead of zooming in directing from the over the shoulder shot we filmed an over the shoulder shot of the serial killer holding the Polaroid. This is because with the zoom effect the detail would be lost and the screen would become blurry and would break the audiences immersion in the text. We also changed the some of the shots during the murder scene, this was mainly because of the location. We were limited to were we could film these shots and so changed the angles from the storyboard. We felt though that this worked in our favour as it created a better effect. We took out the scene were the serial killers face is shown as we couldn't disguise it well enough for his face to remain a mystery. This again we feel worked well as the shots we put in stop you from seeing the serial killers face, which was the effect we wanted to create.

For the detective scenes, we only changed a few shots. We removed the one of the detective yawning as this slowed down the text to much. We also added an extreme high angle shot, in were the detective is buttering toast. This may seem like a weird shot choice but we feel it works quite well. We also removed the shot of the detective walking out of the house, this was because of several reasons. The first was because we didn't film it exactly how we wanted it to and the second is that it slowed down the text to much, creating a negative effect we felt. We also added a few extra shots when the detective is opening the case file.

There will also have to be several changes from the rough cut to the final cut. The first has to be cutting down how long the text is, at the moment it is 2:10 this is 10 seconds over the allotted time and needs to be cut down to 2:00. We are also moving the 'The Final Cut' title sequence from the begging to the end. Some clips will be cut down and edited together better as well as having sound effects like thunder and the alarm clock added in. The begging scenes with serial killer and the murder will also have to be made into to night time shots. This can be done with editing software. We are also considering adding a black and white effect to the same scenes. Music will also be added to the detective scenes, we are still looking for the right piece of music a the moment.

Filming

Before we could start to film any of our media text, we first had to create a shooting schedule.

We produced this, which shows what days we are filming; what scenes we are filming; who is doing the camera work; who is directing and who is producing. We decided to alternate these jobs so that everyone could do each one at least once.

We started filming on the Tuesday the 2nd of March. We filmed the scene in which the detective is waking up, getting ready and going to work. This is where we ran into our first problem due to unforeseen circumstances, Katie was unable to be at the shoot and thus her mums house was unavailable. Thankfully my house was available so we used this. I took over the role of camera man and Ellen became the directer/producer.


We managed to film all the scenes we wanted to. During filming we had an idea for a shot that would be quite interesting so we filmed this as well. We used several props in filming these scenes, these were; an alarm clock, some toast, a knife and butter, a toaster and Ellen's car.


The next day, Wednesday the 3rd we filmed the murder scene. We found the location with no problems. This allowed us to film quickly and effectively. Unfortunately Katie wasn't available to film again so I took over the role of camera man and Ellen took the director/producer position again. We managed to film all the shots we wanted to without any hiccups.

We used fake blood during the murder scene, we made this by combining glucose syrup and red food dye plus some water to get the correct thickness. To allow us to apply this easily we used a water sprayer.

This created a good effect as it added a lot of realism to our film. As shown via this photo.

We used props again in this scene. One of these had to be a knife for the serial killer to stab the victim with, obviously this is a massive safety concern. To bypass this problem we used some thick cardboard covered in tin foil. This meant that we could effectively show someone getting stabbed without causing any harm. The props we used were; a dark jumper; the fake blood; a scarf and a fake knife.

As we finished earlier than we planned we had time to film some other scenes. We filmed the detective work scene. We were able to use the receptionists office at our college as his work area. As is had been doing the camera work for all the other shoots Ellen and I swapped places, she did the filming and I became the director/producer. We managed to film everything we wanted to.

We only used two props during this scene this were the case file and folder.

We had originally planned to film the serial killers lair scene on Friday, however we had time, the camera and all the props we needed to film so we decided to. We filmed in an old shed located on our college as this seemed a suitable place as it had an eery to it. As the actor we used for the serial killer in the murder scene wasn't available I acted as stand in, this wasn't a problem because it meant I could direct/produce quite easy and Ellen took control of the camera again. As the serial killer was wearing a hood and covering his face with a scarf it meant I could act this out and not cause problems with continuity. We used the fake blood from the murder scene to cover some cloths with, this made them appear blood soaked and that they had been that way for a while. We also covered the fake knife used earlier in the fake blood making it look like it had been used recently. We used several props within this scene, these were; a dark hoody, a scarf, a fake knife, a second fake knife, a blood soaked cloth, a second blood soaked cloth, some Polaroids and some gloves.

Overall I think filming went well and Ellen and I worked effectively together with our actors to produce the media text.