Stealomatic
This is our stealomatic and shows some of the ideas we plan to include in our video. We can see the plane shorts which we plan to use on the flight to and from Barcelona, this allows us to capture different views
Institutional Research
Big bands such as the arctic monkey are promoted by the bigger record companies- Dominos. \it would not make sense for us to have a deal with the same company. we need a more unknown record label , we came to the conclusion of creating our own, the magnets music. This shows that we are an indie band as it is an unknown record company. This suits our style and sound.
Final Draft of One Day- Alex Echo
This is our final draft for our video. We have made a few changes from the first draft. Most evidently the 2nd chorus. We filmed an entire new scene as we were not happy whatsoever with the first one. we had Megan in the background and it was not clear as to who Megan was. We filmed a new one with just Dom so tat it was clear at to what was going on. I think we still have a few problmes. For example the colour correction is not quite accurate. The swimming pool scenes still portray the people as quite orange and not their real skin colour. The camera does not come out of the bag for the final chorus which actually spoils the continuity of the video.
Our first draft of our Music Video
This is the first draft of our music video. We know the strong and weak parts of our video, this is why we do various drafts to analyse the video. We can also peer assess each others work in order to achieve a higher mark. Peer assessing may highlight something that we have overlooked. Filming mistakes e.g. a shadow. When we look at our first draft it is clear for us the bits that need improving. Most importantly is the backstage of a gig chorus, it is unclear who the other character is (Megan). To make it more realistic that it is backstage of a gig, we would have to have a lot more people. Alex could be walking in-between them whilst doing their jobs. This demonstrates a more realistic entrance This is something we want to achieve during the shooting having our video look as professional as possible.
The chorus where Alex is actually performing is also not up to scratch with the high standards that we set. Half of the shots during the scene are good such as the low angle and the trainer shot. The long shot where Alex is in-front of a whiteboard is very amateur and lets the video down. We can adjust the lighting in order to achieve a more appropriate chorus performance. When we have re-filmed these two choruses I will be very satisfied with our video as I am really happy with all the GoPro sections.
The chorus where Alex is actually performing is also not up to scratch with the high standards that we set. Half of the shots during the scene are good such as the low angle and the trainer shot. The long shot where Alex is in-front of a whiteboard is very amateur and lets the video down. We can adjust the lighting in order to achieve a more appropriate chorus performance. When we have re-filmed these two choruses I will be very satisfied with our video as I am really happy with all the GoPro sections.
Website Feedback from Audience
We had to peer assess each groups website which meant that they received feedback from us and in turn we received feedback from them. This is a really good technique as it means we can get new ideas and appraisal for our work. This means all the group can improve their website and achieve a higher mark for their blog.
WWW - I love the homepage and way that the photos wipe to the next looks really professional. The website fits well for a solo artist and the genre of their music.
EBI - More merchandise (and better quality photos on that page) are needed. URL needs to be changed also.
what went well - the banner at the top is really nice and so is the slideshow of pictures on the homepage.
even better if - it is very plain and takes about a minute to go through the whole website.
WWW - Website looks professional and the font ties in nicely with the genre. I like the idea of having a logo to brand who you are (the magnet) and a banner, be sure to use it in your digipak too!
EBI - Info page is a bit generic in terms of information given. Reword some of it to revamp it. Change the web address so it is Alex Echo and looks professional.
Love how the pictures slide across the page, looks really professional and clear. Great choice of colours, everything is clear. I like how the pictures link and the same concept is repeated throughout, clear connections. Could do with a bit more on each of the links and possibly change the web address. otherwise really great.
WWW - website looks professional and the font ties in nicely with the genre. I like the idea of having a logo to brand who you are (the magnet) and a banner. Assuming this goes in with the digipak as well the synergy will be there and it'll get good marks
EBI - some of the pages have extremely large font with a few sentences and not a lot else. Perhaps condense two pages into just one page rather than lacking information. Change the web address so it is Alex Echo and looks professional.
Alex Echo is good however, their theme is a bit unconvential and not continuous. Echo's identity isn't clear as there are pictures of him with someone else. Lack of content which needs to be rectified.
Alex Echo's site is professional and fun, and practically screams Indie throughout. The photoshoot is of a high standard and presents conventions of Indie, i.e. colour, layout and typography. There is all of the necessary links, as well as a feed from the social network profiles, keeping fans and followers up to date, creating hype for the single, album and music video. Some videos could be included to complement the photography, i.e. music video teaser, interview etc.
I like this website as it is both minimalistic and full of content as it has links and information which the fans would be interested in. The website has a good colour scheme and looks very professional. All of the website works well but there was a problem with the merchandise as the picture quality was very bad. If this gets fixed it will be a very good website for the artist.
Alex echos website is well done. I like the unique idea of the pictures on the home page. The home page is very pretty and to me looks quite professional. When looking through the website i noticed that they had very little merchandise so i believe they need to work on this aspect of the website. The info page is quite plane and boring, it would be nice to see a wider variety of photos much like the homepage. Although the website is quite simple it isn't in anyway boring. I dont think they need to have loads going on for it look good and i think adding lots more will make the website look too busy and messy. This could ruin the simple beauty that it has. They have also added all their social networks to keep you up to date .
Good Looking website, nice menu and title, Pictures look really good and also the connect page looks good.
Even Better If:
he merchandise needs a lot of work, use a store app in wix and make sure the images arnt as pixelated as they are now. Is there supposed to be a menu par at the bottom of the page? looks a bit random.why is Sam is the pictures ? hes not mentioned, especially as he is a solo artist? either the font or the colour of the font needs changing on the info page, too hard to read currently.
The layout for this website is great with very easy access to all different pages on the website. I really like the home page with the sliding images going across your screen.There is a confusing part in the gallery as Alex Echo is a solo artist, however there are a few pictures with sam in them posing also, so this could lead people to be unsure who he is. However apart from this I think this website is really strong, ticking all the boxes including merchandise.
Teaser Trailer
The teaser trailer shows an instant introduction to the artist. We see him walking up toward a stage and then going around to a performance area as if he is just about to go on stage to perform to an audience. We can hear crowd sounds as he approaches the stage in anticipation, we can then see him on stage with the song starting and body shots of the artists. Just as the lyrics begin the trailer cuts out this leaves the audience interested in what will happen during the performance and the rest of the video. This makes it a successful video as it is designed to intrigue the audience.
Old Website
The websites quite an interesting design the grey background looks quite classy and allows the pictures to stand out. This is important that the audience can clearly relate to the artist. There is a lack of detail on the website which needs to be corrected for. Also there is a picture of the artist with me which really makes no sense, why am i there?, who am I in relation to the artist? These photos need to be deleted as it is confusing to the audience as to who i am in relation to the artist. If they are to be left then some description need to be added which could only be a caption such as Alex Echo with the producer.
Also we can add more detail for example a short story as to who the artist is and how he claim to fame. Some reviews can be added, when we look at band posters and website we can see quotes from reviews for example we could have THE OBSERVER "***** the hottest new man on the block" NME "One Day the best solo artist song for years".
Permission to Create a cover version
The image shows us asking the artists permission to write a cover version of song. This permission allows us to make the cover version and not get in trouble over copyright laws. We can also offer a link to the original in the description on youtube which means that promotion is created for the original song during the promotion of our song. A link to the songs iTunes means that people can purchase the son, with both it should mean that we are able to use the song without any problems.
Why did we use a GoPro
Secondly was the fact that the GoPro is waterproof so we can use it for the jumping and water-polo footage in the same shooting location. This included both underwater shots and shot from the waters level. This is vital for the video which means that any other camera would be broken in the filming of this. The waterproof case allowed us to get some really nice shots such as the changeover between myself and Dan underwater.
Another reason was to get the nice city shots of Barcelona. The fisheye allows large city scapes to be captured by Sarah. This is important as it shows the culture and architeture with large panoramic shots we get a feel for the city as if we are actually experiencing the city trip which is exactly what we need to portray during the clip.
A weakness of the GoPro is that the fisheye lens flattens out the contours of the ground which is a bit disappointing for the POV biking footage. The route is actually quite extreme and it would have been nice to represent this with the footage but the fisheye dilutes this which make the route appear quite easy. This is not a major problem as it only account for 9 seconds of our video.
Alex Echo Speaking to Radio One
We made a mock up video for an interview with Radio One to create some promotion for the new song One Day it is important to chat to large radio stations so the nation can hear you speaking and get to know you on a personal level. This is the sort of questions that were asked of Alex such as tell us some of your bad habits and what you like doing at home etcetera this creates a better relationship with the audience as they feel they can relate to Alex on a personal level. We also saw a cover version of popular song Wonderwall by Oasis. This is a song that almost everyone knows so can join in with and appreciate. Cover versions are an important thing for musicians as it shows their voice and interpretation of the song and helps when they have a lack of song or need to motivate a crowd.
Drama Studio Arrangements
It is important that we know our shooting locations are going to be available when we need them.This is the case when we need to use the facilities at school, they are in use so often that we need to make sure that we have written acknowledgement that we can use the facility for our media work alone and will not be disturbed in trying to capture the shots we require. Here is our written acknowledgment that we are able to use the drama studio a key performance are for our final piece.
Weather Forecast 5 days from 27/11 - 01/12
This is the weather for the next 5 days in chelmsford, We need relatively good weather to film the biking footage. We can see that the weather picks up on Saturday this gives us a great chance to fil. We should take this opportunity to capture the POV footage of the bike so that we have the continuity of good weather. During the biking footage that we have already acquired when the GoPro is attached to the handlebars the weather is clealy quite good as we can see the sky. Even though we will not be able to see the sky during the POV footage it will be obvious that the weather is poor due to sloppy mud and rain coming down. The weather has been so poor recently that we have been able to capture the POV footage. As it is now winter filming opportunities will be rare so it is important to get lots of footage on a day with good weather so we are not relying on revisiting the shooting location.
Remaining Shots to Complete Video
Dom:
More Shots for song introduction
Getting in and out of car
Having a good time in car
Arriving at school
Taking camera out of bag at home
Putting in bag after car journey
In bag before performance
Out of bag after performance
Another Performance, new shooting location
Bag Shots at new shooting location
Sarah:
Putting it in Bag
Nick:
POV footage of biking
Bag Shots Before and after
Website Reviews
This is me evaluating the other groups websites this gives them a chance to improve their website and therefore allow them to achieve a higher mark. If we are all doing assessments of each others work then we may find floors in our website that we can adjust. Hopefully I can help someone to highlight a weakness of their work that they can then correct.
www.gracestarr.wix.com/gracestarr
The Grace Starr website looks very professional, we are shown different things the artist is doing such as tour dates, red carpet appearances and interviews. People interested in the artist want to know and read these sort of things so it is important to include the on the website for easy access for the audience. We are also able to purchase thing from the website both merchandise and album download. The Merchandise is not very appealing and i would not be encouracged to buy anything from it.
The website gives a clear description as to whom Nicholas Alexander is and what he represents, we see a Bio of who he is and this allows new fans to relate to the artist. We are also linked to sites where we can listen to more of the artist, itunes soundcloud and youtube for example. There is no merchandise on the website which means a lack of investment in the website from fans outside the purchase of tickets. Also for a new artist the tour seems very limited and non available to the majority of the country.
www.gracestarr.wix.com/gracestarr
The Grace Starr website looks very professional, we are shown different things the artist is doing such as tour dates, red carpet appearances and interviews. People interested in the artist want to know and read these sort of things so it is important to include the on the website for easy access for the audience. We are also able to purchase thing from the website both merchandise and album download. The Merchandise is not very appealing and i would not be encouracged to buy anything from it.
www.encodedmusic1.wix.com/encoded
The idea of the countdown is quite good it give the audience something to look forward and to and be excited about. The tour venues are related to the 02, mostly which they have stated the band is linked with which shows good continuity. The Grammar does not make sense on the home page, there is a close of bracket but no open. Also there is a link to home at the top that does not go to anything.
The website shows us who the alleyways are with a paragraph about the band, they also have a large gallery and it is each to listen to their song fast in my car. However it states that they are releasing a 6 track EP but have only listed 5 songs which is quite confusing.
www.jamescouleur.wix.com/jamescouleur
The website is really good it has nice and accessible merchandise, a large gallery of photos with different outfits to show lot of photos and different locations. We are also clearly linked to both a facebook and twitter website. The only realy problem is the lack of detail on the homepage of the website there is no artist desciption or quotes regarding the artist they could include either of these to improve the website.
We are shown the twitter account of the artist which allows us to relate to the artist straight away we can follow the link and discover him and this will allow further artist promotion. Contact us and Meet Cosmo link to nothing which is false advertising.
www.hybridbeauty.wix.com/hybrid-beauty
We have an interview with all the members of the band which allows us to relate to each member personally and individually. This is important in this type of band as it breaks up he performers meaning they are not merged into one they also talk about playing as a support act which is a clever idea showing they have been scouted and have had a taste of what true success is like. The website however is quite hard to read the white font merges in with the background, so it is pointless having it if we can't even read it.
We have an interview with all the members of the band which allows us to relate to each member personally and individually. This is important in this type of band as it breaks up he performers meaning they are not merged into one they also talk about playing as a support act which is a clever idea showing they have been scouted and have had a taste of what true success is like. The website however is quite hard to read the white font merges in with the background, so it is pointless having it if we can't even read it.
The website shows us who the alleyways are with a paragraph about the band, they also have a large gallery and it is each to listen to their song fast in my car. However it states that they are releasing a 6 track EP but have only listed 5 songs which is quite confusing.
www.jamescouleur.wix.com/jamescouleur
The website is really good it has nice and accessible merchandise, a large gallery of photos with different outfits to show lot of photos and different locations. We are also clearly linked to both a facebook and twitter website. The only realy problem is the lack of detail on the homepage of the website there is no artist desciption or quotes regarding the artist they could include either of these to improve the website.
Alex Echo Singing
This is Dom covering popular song Wonderwall. This shows his music tastes and ability to put his own stamp on such a worldwide classic. This can help to generate success with other music genre fans. This also gives him the chance to play popular song on tours. Cover versions are a vital part of a new artists development.
GoPro Practice
We had a play with the camera to see how it looks being passed between each other, mounted on things for an example. It allows us to see a real panoramic shot. This can both be of a positive and negative effect. It allows us to capture all the action with little attention to detail. It focuses quickly and produces a real high quality picture.
Playground Footage
This is an important shot in our final video, it shows a small child running and playing in a playpark. we still may make changes to the clip, this may include shortening the clip should we want to change the part of the song that we want to use.
Alex Echo Performance footage
We need some performance in our video, this is important part of the video so that the audience can familiarize with the singer. Especially as we are a solo artist we want him to be the clear focus of the video. We think it will be more memorable for there to be constant reminder of the lead singer. Therefore we will have short snippets of the singer in various parts of the song the repetition will help the audience to relate to the artist. Also the audience will not get bored of the performance. Short sharp edits will be the theme throughout our video.
Inclusion into Video
In the Halfterm I am know going on a Kitesurfing holiday. This is another filming oppourtunity for us. We can see a kitesurfing videoing themselves. This is another example of an extreme sport that can keep our audience interested in our video. The footage could look really good but does come with some risk. The person has to hold onto both the kite and the GoPro. The camera could be dropped and therefore sink to the bottom of that water. To reduce risk we will ask a professional to film themselves rather than me doing it myself. We will also need to stress the importance of how expensive the GoPro is. this should discourage them from attepting any particualy difficult tricks.
Artist Pictures
This shows our artist facing right to left front and back. Te idea behind this was to creat a collage like poster. We could use this as a square for various marketing techniques. Posters, Merchandise and even EP players.
Problems Filming
We have encountered a couple of problems with filming. We had orginally planned to film my cousin and dad, playing in the park and mountain biking respectfully.
The biking fell through due to an injury to my Dad's knee, he would find it very uncomfortable to cycle. This means we have had to substitute him in the filming. We will now fil a classmate on Staurdya 25/10. This means we can get the footage that we need done and ready to edit. The sooner we start to edit the better we can make our production.
The park trip on the other hand fell through as result of date confusion. It means that we will have to film it another day. We have planned to film this on saturday as well. Hopefully we can get two sets of sucessful peices of footage.
The biking fell through due to an injury to my Dad's knee, he would find it very uncomfortable to cycle. This means we have had to substitute him in the filming. We will now fil a classmate on Staurdya 25/10. This means we can get the footage that we need done and ready to edit. The sooner we start to edit the better we can make our production.
The park trip on the other hand fell through as result of date confusion. It means that we will have to film it another day. We have planned to film this on saturday as well. Hopefully we can get two sets of sucessful peices of footage.
Biking Footage
We looked at this footage and unfortunatly we do not think it is appropriate for what we are after. Although the footage could be appropriate for sections of the video we need more shot of both the bikers POV and the biker himself.
We need to film more footage for this section of the video. We want to have the camera videoing the individuals face whilst he's riding downhill.
We will take a visit to Danbury Common in order to capture more appropriate footage. We plan to this on the coming Saturday 25/10/2014.
I still believe we can use a little bit of this footage especially when the weels come close to the camera. I think this is an effective technique to break up the footage, if we have just one type 0of shot it may cause the audience to become quite bored of the footage.
Barcelona Footage
Sarah from our group went on a city break for an art trip to Barcelona. We wanted her to capture various footage such as plane journeys and city life whilst on her trip. She came back with over 5 minutes of footage from her trip, this is a good thing because we have to make 29 seconds of footage and want to have lots of cuts in the video. If there was say 1 minute of footage then it would make the video really slow and boring. I have edited it down to exactly 29 seconds of footage this is a good amount of time for the footage as it does not become broing and keeps the audience interested in the video. We can see from the clip that we need lots of footage to make the video sucessful. We should aim for 5minutes of footage for each recording section. This way we can use lots of jump cuts to keep our audience interested.
Something the group and I are unsure about is if we are leaving the plane shots for to long. I is important for our video that we have lots of short sharp cuts. To achieve this we need plenty of footage. We may look at reducing the plane shots and then increasing the in city shots.
Overall, we are happy with the footage. We see a lot of Sarah whuich is important as we are showing her life and what she is enjoying doing. The whole idea is selfie type shots so this is exactly what we are after.
Something the group and I are unsure about is if we are leaving the plane shots for to long. I is important for our video that we have lots of short sharp cuts. To achieve this we need plenty of footage. We may look at reducing the plane shots and then increasing the in city shots.
Overall, we are happy with the footage. We see a lot of Sarah whuich is important as we are showing her life and what she is enjoying doing. The whole idea is selfie type shots so this is exactly what we are after.
Album Cover Idea
This was the first draft of our album cover for our Alex Echo record. I came up with the idea of the picture which was edited on photoshop. The reason I used the bright colours on a black background was to make the album stand out. This makes the album stand out when someone is looking through a large amount of CDs. The album and artist name is clearly stated at the top this means the audience can clearly see who the artist is even at a quick glance.
The rest of my group liked the cover put wasn't sure if it was appropriate for the actual album cover. They thought it would be more appropriate to have an image of Alex Echo on the front of the cover. This way the album is more linked to the artist and easier for a fan to find in a shop.
We could still use the cover above for something related to the artist. The back of the album case could be an idea or perhaps even the disc. We would have to consider this at a later date. If we used it as the actual cd picture then it would not have to be adapted. If we instead used it as the back of the cd case then we would have to change it to have the song names on the album. This could be as well or instead of the current text.
Song Breakdown
This shows all the natural cuts in the song such as chorus's and instrumentals. We will use this as a guide to help us to decide when we need to introduce a new character. Ideally we would like to have a different scene for each section. The problem with this is that one of the shots will then only last for 1 second. This will not be appropriate for us to introduce a new character. We have the idea of using Dom our main character in peformance style for each of the chorus's, we will most probably just overlap the action into this instrumental to irradicate trying to introduce a new character too quickly.
Storyboard Ideas- First Draft
When we worked out the real transition timings we realised that one of the clips would be left with just 1 second alloted time. This means we have to adapt our storyboard to correct for this poblem. After drafing the storyboard we will have to make it a lot clearer and irradicate the problem o the 1 second shot.
Shooting Location- Chelmsford Multi-Story Car Park
Shooting Location- Oaklands Park
The problem that we may encounter during this shooting section is because my cousin is only 6 it may be hard for him to understand exactly what we are after. The best way to work around this will be to get him to re-film it a lot of times from different angles or perhaps even attaching it to him. We will have to film this shot a lot and most probably use a lot of cuts to make the scene realistic.
Shooting Location- Danbury Common
The first picture i have attached is the actual shooting location compared to the second which is just a generic mountain bike. I have previously been to the area of the common we have used both to recki the course and make sure it is appropriate for our needs. The only thing that could affect our ability to film is previous heavy rain. This would mean large puddles in the dips of the course this would make the course quite dangerous meaning filming would have to be delayed.
Although it is quite a trek for us to reach the common. It will take us roughly 30 minutes to reach it. This does not include setting up test runs and repeating the shot or dealing with problems. This means it is going to take a long time to film the event including travelling so it would be ideal to get the filming done within one recording session.
Shooting Location- Riverside Chelmsford
Riverside, our local swimming pool is a very important shooting location for us we need it for 2 very important shots. The second picture is just a location highlighter. We will not actually be shooting outside the leisure center.
The first picture i have attached to this post is of the diving boards at the leisure center. We have an option of a 1 meter, 3 meter and 5 meter boards. We will most probably film the jump from all 3 board heights. This will allow us to see what angle and water entry we like bets. the shot will include some underwater action which may be more appropriate from specific board heights than others.
Finally, I have included a picture of a water polo player ready to make a shot/pass. We have a friend who i a competitive polo player. We will use him to take a few shots or do some dribbling. We want to have a clear view and snippet of him enjoying his game.
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