Iceland Photoshoot

When i was in Iceland filming i didn't just capture the footage i wanted for my music video, i also took a lot of photos. The reason that i also focused on taking photos was to get some shots for my digipak. I knew that in my digipak i wanted to feature some nice scenic shots and landscape shots, i also wanted to link my video to my digipak and because a lot of my video is footage shot from Iceland i thought it would be appropriate to link the Iceland footage with images in the digipak of Iceland. Here are my favourite photographs from Iceland which i think will work best with my digipak design.

Production Diary 25th January

On the 25th i had scheduled to film the rest of my music video, josh has been very busy making it difficult to get together for a full today recently, we figured that we were both free to shoot the whole day on the 25th, we also chose the 25th because the weather forecast was mean to be sunny and clear skies all day, the weather pulled through and was perfect all day, clear blue skies resulting in me getting the best possible footage. There wasn't too much planning to be done for the day, the few things i planned was the locations which we were going to visit, i have a car which made it very easy to get to these places, without a car i wouldn't have been able to get to some of these locations. I also planned the costume and props for Josh, there wasn't a lot to be done here apart from one key aspect which was needed which was the guitar, i wanted josh to always have a guitar in every shot, the view was for him to be walking in different locations along with his guitar and then playing in stunning places. So the guitar was a key prop which was needed for every shot. 

We started the shoot at 11:30, we started at this time because it was when both of us were first available and so we could make the most of the day. The first location which we visited was near bolten abbey, up some backroads to the top of the moor, this location was good because it was a nice open road which i had a shot set out of josh walking down the lonely road on his own, which worked perfectly at this location. I made the most out of every location, at this we also got some other shots of him looking out at the big view which could be seen from this location. 

The second location which we visited was Beamsly Beacon, we walked up here, while walking up i got a lot of different types of shots of josh walking up, my favourite type of shots of these were the shaky tracking shots. When we got to the top i shot more of Josh looking out over a really nice view, panning around him. While at this location i also took a lot of photographs as well as my footage. The reason for this was i was also focusing on getting images for my digipak. I had my landscape Iceland photos but i was hoping to get some stuff of Josh because i would like to include him on my digipak rather than it just being landscape photos. 

Once we had made the most out this location we then moved to the third which was ilkley moor, me and Josh have done a lot of filming and photography on ilkley moor before so we knew our way round and the locations which we though would be perfect for what i wanted. We went to the forest part because i had some shots lined up which would work perfectly in this location. Here i got shots of Josh walking through he forest. We also shot a different scene here as well, this was Josh sat down on his guitar case in the forest playing his song. I panned around him while playing, close up and from a distance. Trying out lots of different approaches to filming him playing, i am happy with how these turned out, the lighting in the forest was also really nice as it was shining bright through the trees creating a really nice effect. 

When we had finished here we moved to our forth and final local, at this location there was lots of different things which could be shot here and we were staying for a while until sunset because that is when i was going to make the most out of the location. The forth location was Fewston Reservoir, this was the best spot which we went to. At the reservoir there is a beach, i got some shots of josh walking down the beach with the guitar, our main reason for being at this location was for the sunset, so while we waited we got some other shots, then as the sun was setting i got lots of shots of josh playing the guitar on the beach looking out over onto the reservoir, i think these would be best for the ending of the music video. When shooting i got a lot of shaky movement shots because i believe these fit the overall feel of the video and fit nicely.

Altogether i believe that this day was successful as i managed to acquire all the footage i needed for the rest of my video, with this footage ill now begin the editing process sorting through the clips which i have and picking out the best and cutting them down to the best parts so when i come to edit with the song i am not wasting time looking through bad footage.

Essay Plan

Question - Apply the concept of narrative to one of your coursework productions.

First paragraph (introduction) - 

- what is narrative? 

-describe narrative and explain what it means

-(the way stories are told, how meaning is constructed to achieve the understanding of the audience)

-(voice of narrative can be different and vary; whose story is being told and from whose perspective)

- is narrative important?

-(use narratives or stories to make sense of our lives and work around us)

Second paragraph -

- who is Aristotle/about

-Five stage narrative structure (exposition, development, complication, climax, resolution)

(link to own cousework could be separate paragraph)

-link to own coursework (does it match or does it go against it, which parts fit with the production)

Third paragraph -

- About Claude Levi-Strauss and his approach to narrative

- Binary opposites eg. good vs evil, protagonist vs antagonist

(link to own cousework could be separate paragraph)

-does this link to my own coursework, yes, use examples and develop

Fourth paragraph -

- About Todorov and his approach to narrative

-Five stages a narrative has to pass through 

- 1. state of equilibrium 2. event disrupts the equilibrium 3. protagonist notices disruption 4. protagonist attempts to restore equilibrium 5. equilibrium is restored, new equilibrium is established 

- (equilibrium - state of normality - good, bad or neutral)

(link to own cousework could be separate paragraph)

- How does this link to my own coursework (own protagonist will develop and go through this process if our film continued because this theory can be applied well to action films.

Fifth paragraph Conclusion -

- Overall if the concept of narrative can be applied to my coursework production 

- Yes, give examples from previous paragraphs.


I attempted to create some practice digipaks with photos taken in Iceland, illustrator wouldn't allow me to import my photos onto the digipak template file for some reason leaving me unable to make any progress.

Digipak Feedback

I made two final digipaks which also came with two different magazine posters. Both were different designs which were taken from two different parts of my music video, so the digipaks both link well to the video. I asked a couple of people about each digipak for their opinion on which they preferred and what they liked and disliked about each poster, this was so i could get an understanding of which digipak to use as my final design. 

This was the first digipak i showed them. The overall response i got from it was that they really liked it. It was a very positive response. Everyone said that the colours were really nice and that they catch your eye instantly drawing you into the image straight away. Others also said that they like the image because it is quite dramatic with the one man standing alone, they said it also gives them an idea of what the type of music it is, solo singer-songwriter. A few mentioned how they thought the colour of the text was good and appropriate because it makes it easy to read and stand out clearly which is good rather than them struggling to see what it says because if it was like that they may just not bother. I am happy with the response i got from this poster, saying that it looks professional and that you can easily tell what type of genre of music it is because it fits well within the genres conventions. The feedback i got was that they liked the simplistic design as it wasn't to full on and in your face but instead was just nice to look at and makes you want to pick it up and look into it.

I then showed the same people the digipak below directly after. The response i got from this digipak was different from the previous one. The first criticism i got was that it didn't feel very professional and like a real digipak compared to previous digipak. They also said that they much preferred the colourful design rather than the black and white design. They also said they wouldn't know what type of music the artist is and it is all a bit to vague which might put people of.

Digipak Idea

My idea for my digipak

Digipaks

What is a digipak?
A digipak is a type of packaging for CDs or DVDs, typically made from cardboard with an internal plastic holder for one or more disks.

Background information:
IMPAC Group, Inc. originally owned the Digipak trademark. That company was acquired by MeadWestvaco in the year 2000 and folded into its AGI Media division. Following on from this, the Digipak name and designs were licensed to manufacturers all around the world. MeadWestvaco sold AGI Media to Atlas Holdings in 2010. Then, in 2012, Atlas purchased Shorewood Packaging from International Paper and merged the two companies to create AGI-Shorewood. Digipak-style cases grew in popularity among record labels and recording artists in the early 2000s and is considered a premium package for the product. Manufacturers have sought to reduce environmental impact and improve functionality by introducing recycled components into its trays; one has announced a 100% post-consumer PET tray made from recycled bottles, which also eliminates the need for the brittle "teeth". Another one goes one step further by totally eliminating the plastic tray and replacing it with a paper tray made from sugarcane and egg carton. Many printers use recycled or sustainable material for the board stock.

A digipak is used by record labels to promote sales similarly to a music video, The popularity of digipaks came about in the early 2000s amongst recording artists and record labels.  The idea of a digipak is to give the customer/fan something physical with a multitude of features which they can keep as opposed to downloading the song or album from the internet, a digipak gives fans more features than the regular CD. Digipaks are made up of either a 4 or 6 plate net with the physical CD in the middle and some generic features are: •CD •Songs list •Photos of the artist or other relevant images •Lyric/song book The overall idea of a digipak is to provide a fan with a creative package which creates more appeal and demand than the standard CD.

The artist which i will be creating the music video for has never released their own album before which means that there is no previous digipak art work which i can study and analyse to figure out how i will approach creating my own, because of this i will look at similar musicians to my artist and research their digipaks to see if there are any conventions which are found between the acoustic genre. One artist which creates similar music to the one i am working with is called Ben Howard, first i will look at this album digipaks.

Ben Howard released this album 'Every Kingdom' on the 30th of September 2011. The front cover was created by an artist called Owen Towzer. The front cover links to the messages which are in his album and found in this lyrics which is his love for nature, the front cover portrays this by showing his likeness for the ocean. The artist is featured on the front cover but the cover is not solely focused on him, this is commonly found in acoustic album covers, they feature the artist on the front cover but it is not just the artist, there is always something else which the viewer can be intrigued by and other things to look at. The target audience for Ben Howard would like this album cover, front and back because they are a fan of simplicity, again simplicity is also another convention for acoustic album covers. 'Ben Howard' typed in a bold and large font on the cover is there to stand out and catch a passerby eye and also to stress the importance of the artist being a solo artist, this artist is also popular so people may spot the name and recognise it resulting them to go look further into it. 

The back cover of the album cover is extremely simple providing only the required information such as track listing, it links to the front cover because of the font used and the colour of the font on the front cover is the same as the colour of the back cover.

http://www.owentozer.co.uk/Ben-Howard-Every-Kingdom

Another artist which is similar to the one i will be using is called Lewis Watson, i have looked into this artist before and know that their digipak would be similar to how i would approach mine for my chosen artist. On the front cover of Lewis Watson's album cover, it features him in centre of the image, this is fairly similar to Ben Howard's just in Lewis' he is in focus and the main part of the image however there is lots of scenery which could be studied. On Lewis' cover you can recognise that it is the artist if you know of him, if not it gives you a clear image of what he looks like, in Ben Howard's you wouldn't know if it is him or not unless you did research, it isn't clear who is in the picture. In Lewis' cover his text is formatted differently but again still has some similarities, this is that the artists name and name of the album is placed at the top of the cover but in Lewis' the name of album and artist are the same size and both a fairly small font size, it isn't there to catch the attention of anyone it is just there to inform. It is also different because the text isn't put over the top of the photograph, there is a separate section just for the text, this means that none of the photo is covered up. The back cover of Lewis' album cover links well to the overall aesthetic of the digipak and links very well to the front cover. The overall theme of the digipak is nature, this is a common convention within acoustic album covers, natures is often a popular theme within the acoustic genre. The back cover continues the same style as the front cover by putting the text on a separate section and not over the photograph leaving the whole photograph completely clear. Once opened up the digipak features the same similar theme of images of Lewis outside with different scenery with nicely positioned and well done photography.

    Ed Sheeran is another acoustic artist which has created a digipak. His digipak is different to usual acoustic album covers, with Eds album cover he doesn't follow the standard conventions. The colour theme of the album cover is orange and white, the orange is very bold and is used all over the digipak, this shows that Ed Sheeran wanted the colour to be connected to his identity and people will recognise and think of him when they see posters and other advertisements with this colour. This is different from the other artists i have looked at, they haven't really focused on one individual colour to represent them. The cover is very simple which is a common theme with acoustic artists, covers are usually quite simple but always effective and bold. The size of the font is small so it doesn't become the centre focus of the album, the colour is in a neutral white which shows simplicity this is a common theme which runs through adverts and other promotion techniques. This album cover helps people understand what type of artist he is, they will notice that he is a singer/songwriter artist. This is shown by the front cover being very simple by just showing the artists face, this is a common convention with these type of artists e.g. Ben Howards Latest Album cover his face is the central four of the cover, this is again down for simplicity and to to be clear to an audience what this album is.

This is Ben Howards latest album 'I forgot where we were' which is similar to Ed Sheerans cover

Digipak layout

Foo Fighters, Wasting Light

Looking at the case the colours red, blue, pink, yellow and green are used on a black background. The images are edited together and formulated into one image, helping it stand out on the black surroundings to catch the attention of consumers. The title is situated above the image, formatted in a simple, with clean, non serif text. The song list is placed on the back of the digipak, with some letters highlighted yellow for aesthetic reasons. The background is simple and bold, using the same tone pink and red as on the front for continuity. The copyright information and barcode which are major conventions of digipaks are also put on the back. The spin of the digipak just has the name of the artist and album, using red and white, again for continuity.

The CD holders themselves are one image cut across both. The image began as a photo, and as a resulted of editing it now uses the same colours, red, pink and yellow, along with a more pixelated filter layered onto the image. It has almost grainy effect which connotes rock music.

The CD itself using just black white and yellow, with the outline of an image of a guitar, along with the artists name and album name, with copyright info at the bottom. It has a paint splattered effect for aesthetic appreciation and small details around the edges.

Checklist

Need to Do:

• A call sheet showing which personnel you will need and the dates and times.
• Lyric sheet which shows visuals that instead to match with he different sections of the song.

Half Done:

• Examples of music videos from the music genre I'm working in, brief highlight any techniques or styles i like
• Audience research highlighting who you believe your primary and secondary audience is and why
• Some analysis of the results of my audience research

Completed:

• Test Footage 
• Pitch with written synopsis of idea
• Profile of artist - embedded videos / brief analysis
• Location scouting (done for iceland and ilkley moor)
• A questionnaire for your primary target audience 
• Props/costumes 
• Evidence of time planning
• Storyboard