planning individual digipak

In comparison to jewel-case CDs, digipaks are a far more effective format to use to promote an artist and build a relationship with the target audience. This is due to the fact that a digipak is more personal as it contains a note from the artist to the audience; this builds a relationship as it is a way to make the audience feel like they are personally receiving something from the artist. Furthermore, a digipak makes good use of presenting artwork and images as it contains a booklet; again, this is a way of the artist giving something more to the audience than just a plain CD. The artist is also further promoted as more information about them is provided for the audience to look through and therefore really get to know the artist; also, it sets the artist apart from other artists and therefore the audience would appeal to their music more, consequently perhaps sharing the digipak around with their friends. In relation to my music video, I need a digipak to go along with it as a way to promote my artist. Therefore, I have planned out the front and back cover of the digipak, alongside two images that will be in the booklet, a note from the artist and the design that will go on the actual CD.

Within my digipak, I have used particular elements that I have taken from the scenes which are going to be in my music video, along with ideas I have personally come up with. For example, the front cover of my digipak consists of a large image of the artist standing on a road at night time. This image has not been taken from anything within the music video; however, it still relates to it as the audience can see the artist's face and therefore are aware that the digipak is relevant. In addition, as it is the front cover, I wanted to create the impression that the artist is looking back at the audience whilst walking away from the camera as if to invite the audience in to buy the digipak and also be a part of her life. Whilst planning the front cover, I thought a lot about the cinematography to use for the image; I opted for a long shot so the audience cannot see the artist's face in a lot of detail. Close-up shots are not conventional of the indie genre as artists do not like to put a lot of emphasise on themselves, but rather focus on their music. I have also conformed to the indie genre conventions with the color choices I made; I did not want bright colors for the front cover, as despite bolder visuals attracting the audience's attention more, they are not conventional and do not match the mood of my music video or the rest of the album. Therefore, I chose to have the image set at night time as the dark natural lighting will make the artist seem like more of an enigma and draw the audience in with curiosity to find out more about the artist. However, when I edit the image in Photoshop, I will shape the dark lighting around the artist and have brighter - but discreet - lighting on the artist's face to illuminate it. Also, I think this connotes the idea of "the light at the end of the tunnel" which links with my music video as it contains a death at the end of it. In relation to the whole album, the connotation of death from the image, matches the mood of the album as it is not a particularly over-joyful one. However, when I was researching and analyzing Gabrielle Aplin's digipak for "English Rain", I liked the use of juxtaposition between the brighter pastel colors in comparison to the dull, greyish tones of the background as it connoted the idea of the artist having two sides to her. Therefore, to employ some happiness in the digipak, as the album is not completely depressing, I will edit the image to increase the saturation of the trees on the road. Furthermore, I will make the white lines on the road brighter and ensure that the brighter lighting on the artist's face will noticeably contrast with the darker lighting of the rest of the image.

In comparison to the front cover of the digipak where the image I used was set in the countryside, the back cover will consist of an image set in the city. Despite the fact that using city locations is not particularly conventional of the indie genre, during my research into my target audience, a lot of people said they like to see city locations within a music video and therefore would like to incorporate it in my music video; they are also in my music video so it fits in well. However, I want to go even further by editing the image so the buildings are all burred but the artist is standing in front of the buildings, looking directly at the camera, and the shot of her will be in complete focus. This image has been inspired by the use of fast-pace editing of the London shoots in the music video. Furthermore, I think the juxtaposition between the blurred background and focused image of the artist will help to build a personal relationship between the audience and artist as they are gaining a deeper insight into the chaotic life of the artist. The artist is therefore promoted more as they are represented as living a celebrity style busy life and therefore makes them appear to be extraordinary; the audience will aspire to be more like the artist as they recognize their success. As I want any lights that will be featured in the image to stand out more, I will aim for taking the picture later on during the day - pre-evening time - as I do not want the image to be too dark but I do not want it to be set in complete daylight. Having the lights stand out whilst the background image of London is blurred will create a more effective image as it will visually stand out more and appeal to the audience as it is far more interesting. Another aspect of the image to think about is that I plan to take two separate images and combine them as one image: I want to take a picture of the artist separate from the picture of London as I will not be able to take one of her actually in London. Therefore, I have to consider how to best approach taking the picture.


Whilst planning the digipak, I have also had to consider the typography I would like to use as it is a way to effectively attract the audience into purchasing the digipak. As Gabrielle Aplin's digipak conforms to the indie genre of being quite simplistic, I wanted to use this convention within my own digipak. Therefore, I have chosen to use a font that is similar to Gabrielle's in its naturalness, however when I get to actually creating it on Photoshop, I will play around with the design. Evidently I do not want to use a font that is completely bland; however, I want the main focus of the digipak to be upon quickly getting concise information across to the audience and mainly focusing on the images as they convey deeper meaning about the artist and their music. The overall layout of the digipak will mainly image based; the only side of the digipak with more than a small amount of writing will be the one with a note from the artist. I have chosen to use minimal writing on the front and back cover of the digipak - just the album name and artist's name - as this is conventional of both the indie genre and digipaks in general. This is due to the fact that the front cover should not contain a lot of information as it is the design of the images which is how the artist attracts the audience in. An image is a far more effective way of appealing to the target audience as having to read a lot of information looks and is exceedingly boring. However, on the back of the digipak I have decided to include a list of all the songs that will be included in the digipak as Gabrielle Aplin also did this in her own digipak. Instead of listing them one after the other, I have decided to lay out the song names by placing them around the bottom of the album in a random order; but they will be numbered. This is due to the layout of the image; as I will be editing a picture of the female character in, there will not be enough space to list the songs. However, when I start using Photoshop, I may discover that my initial idea is not suitable enough as it does not look professional or attract the audience enough. Therefore, there is the option of just having the blurred image of London and not having the artist in the image too; this would not be a huge loss as there is a picture of the artist on the front of the digipak. In addition, after researching into indie genre digipaks, I have seen a pattern of convention of the artist only being featured on the front cover of it, and therefore it is not an obligation to follow my initial plan of the digipak.

A requirement of a digipak is to include a personal note from the artist. Therefore, one of the six sides of my digipak that I have planned out includes this. The design I have chosen for my own personal note is to have a mid shot image of the artist with a thought bubble coming out of her in the shape of a cloud, along with other smaller clouds around the main big cloud. In this thought bubble cloud will be the personal note. I have chosen this design as I was inspired by Gabrielle Aplin's digipak as she had strong connotations of escaping and being free, through the use of balloons and umbrellas. Using clouds would effectively appeal to my target audience as firstly, it is a more creative approach than simply written out the personal note on a plain background; the audience are of a younger age (15-25) and would therefore appreciate creativity as they would stereotypically like fun and playful things. It will also appeal to the target audience as it connotes the idea of having your "head in the clouds", which a lot of the 15-25 age group can deeply relate to. In addition, this consequently helps to promote the artist positively as she will seem more like an ordinary and relatable figure for the audience, as she is represented as being quite young, carefree and friendly, with a lot of normal and stereotypical youthful qualities. The image I chose of the artist is a mid-shot; most of my digipak sides have an image of the artist but do not clearly show her face and therefore I wanted at least one where her face was in clear show. The layout of the personal note has been carefully designed so that the page is neatly ordered; there is activity in both the top and bottom of the digipak side; however I have balanced it out so that it is not a lot for the audience to take in. In addition, as this digipak side contains the most writing, I have made sure that the writing has been contained in just one place so that the page is not busy for the audience and they can quickly read what they need to, without struggling to take everything in. The actual typography I have used is again, extremely simple. I did not want to use fancy font as this is both unconventional of the indie genre, as well as having looked out of place alongside the rest of my digipak. The language I chose is also simplistic as despite my age range being 15-25, and therefore being well abled in a literary aspect, they actually do not appeal to fanciful and cerebral language; they care more about colloquial language, e.g. "hey guys!" instead. Therefore, I have taken care to shape my writing around the appeals of the relevant age group. I have chosen to keep the color scheme quite simple as the main focus is the personal note. Therefore, I have opted to only use color on the clouds; instead of keeping them white and having the sky blue, I have decided to use blue for the clouds as I wanted them to stand out as much as possible. I also wanted to keep to the use of greyish tones for the main background to clearly juxtapose with any brighter use of color - in this case, the clouds, which need to be brighter as they need to be positive and happy as the note is in one of them. Depending on how it turns out when I come to using Photoshop, I am either going to have all the clouds - except the one with the note in it - in a more prominent shade of blue than the one containing the note, or reversal. This way, it will become quickly evident what is the main focus; it also just helps to keep the digipak side looking as interesting as possible. It is also conventional of the indie genre to use a simple layout and color scheme and to maintain this outlook all the way through my work, I have ensured to conform to this convention in this side of the digipak.


Coming up with an innovative idea for the CD design of my digipak was also crucial. I was inspired by the design idea when my group and I were going through some of the footage we took for the music video. In one of the beginning scenes of the video, the artist is on a swing; I chose to take this and use it on the CD. As the CD has a circular hole in the centre of it, I draw my artist on a swing around this centre, as I thought the hole would create a creative privation of the artist's face. As mentioned previously, it is not conventional of the indie genre to heavily feature the artist' face and therefore I have conformed to the conventions. The lack of face actually would appeal to the audience as it is quite a unique idea and it also relates to the music video for one of the songs featured in the album; therefore, if the audience have seen the video, which a lot of them will have, then they would understand the link. This is instantly more appealing as it makes the audience feel as if they are in the know of something only certain individuals would understand and therefore makes them feel more special and connected to the artist. The design I chose also helps to promote the artist as it connotes the artist to be quite enigmatic, which will intrigue a lot of people as naturally, humans are curious to know more. I am yet to decide whether I would like for the CD to simply be an image of the artist on a swing with the background location in sight, or instead, edit out the background and just have a colored but plain background. When I get to the stage of using Photoshop I will be able to quickly decide as I will be able to really see what the CD will look like and be able to compare it against the rest of my digipak to see what works best. If I do choose option A of having the original image, then I will still edit it and put a filter on it to increase the darkness and saturation in the centre of the CD, and have the brightness increase at the edges of the CD, as I think this would make it stand out more and look more creative and original. However, if I choose option B of editing out the background, then I will use a plain color of blue or green as these have been dominantly used throughout the rest of the digipak. 

This is one of the two sides of the digipaks that will be images for my booklet. This image I have chosen is simply an extreme long shot of the artist standing on a hill, overlooking the scenery. I chose to use a long shot as I wanted to capture the location as well as the artist within it. Furthermore, as I have previously used an image of London for the back cover of my digipak, I wanted to ensure that both locations used in the music video would be included in the digipak. I also chose to include the artist as I wanted to draw from the performance side of the music video in that the artist is standing all alone and therefore suggest to the audience that this album is going to be quite personal and a get-to-know the artist as you will see her on her own, and away from everyone else and therefore really connect with her. Unlike some of the other images, this image will be taken as one element, in that the artist will actually be standing on this hill, as opposed to editing her in another image, e.g. through the use of a green screen. As this image will not contain any typography, I want it to stand out as much as possible, so I will edit it by putting a filter on that increase the brightness and strengthens the color elements within it. 

This is the last side of the digipak I planned out and the last of the two images I am going to use for my booklet. This is simply an image of the artist standing in front of a brick wall. In our music video, we were actually going to use this location for the artist to sing in front of, so that is what inspired me to use this image. It is also a good image as it is a full(/wide) shot of the artist, so the audience can clearly see her face and the outfit she is wearing. When I take the picture for the digipak, I will take multiple from different angles, e.g. from the front where the artist is looking directly at the camera, from the front where the artist is looking down at the floor and from either sides where the artist is looking across, out in the distance. This is simply due to the fact that I have not decided what will look best and therefore would like a range to choose from. I purposely chose a shot that includes the artist's entire body as I want the audience to see at least one clear example of the style of clothing that the artist prefers as this is a good way for the audience to build a connection with the artist. If the artist is wearing clothing that appeals to both the genre and the target audience, then they will be better promoted as the audience will aspire to have the types of clothing the artist does as well as conforming to the indie genre in their clothing style which the audience will like. I think this image would best suited to be edited where the contrast is increased and a strong filter with a bold tone is placed on it as a brick wall is quite a rough looking background in the sense that you would not want a bright or soft looking image.

Overall, all the planning I have done for my digipak largely differs from a jewel case CD; the latter focuses more on simply gaining as many sales as possible, whereas digipaks focus on the relationship between the audience and the artist. Digipaks have been carefully thought out to provide the audience with as much content from the artist as possible and to give them something back for their loyalty, e.g. the time and effort spent on the artwork of the booklet and the personal note from the artist. The style of language and the typography used in jewel case CDs would also greatly contrast, as digipaks spend more time and care upon carefully constructing what they write as they want to appeal to the audience as much as possible. All the planning I have done for my digipak has been extremely helpful, especially in regards to taking pictures and preparing me for the use of Photoshop. I now have list of all the relevant pictures I will need, which I can share amongst my group to ensure that if they are filming a particular scene which involves the location of one of my images, they can take the picture for me. For example, Molly was set with the responsibility of filming the scenes at Theydon Bois, where the swing is, and therefore I need to make sure I let her know what images I would like. I have also been prepared for the use of Photoshop as I now how I want to edit all the images I have. For example, in the image for the CD design, I do not specifically know how I want the final outcome to look yet, but I know how I want to approach the outcome; I have two different options and I now know how I am going to edit the image to get there. Conclusively, I am now very aware of the images I need for my digipak and from analyzing and talking about my digipak plan, I am confident in my chose of them.

music video inspirations

Inspirations are important to take into considering when producing a music video, as having a variety of ideas means that your music video is more likely to include conventional elements to the genre that you have repeatedly seen in various videos. In addition, your music video is more likely to be more creative and have an interesting narrative is you take inspirations, rather than just coming up with a narrative from the top of your mind. It is also beneficial as you can see what famous artists have included in their music videos to make them so successful and therefore enhance the quality of your own video.

The first video I have taken inspirations from is Kodaline's "All I Want". There are two parts (videos) for the song and in the one I have picked, there is a strong use of editing of colors and filters. The video has been edited so that the saturation has been slightly drained in some scenes which is extremely useful when creating a more melancholy feeling. Goodwin's theory of there being a relationship between the music and the visuals can be applied here as the dull and blander colors match the mood of the music at specific points. This relates to my own music video as my song my group and I have planned to gradually reduce the saturation and brightness of the scenes as the video progresses as the narrative becomes increasingly depressing. We ourselves would like to ensure that the music matches the visuals - as Goodwin proposes is essential - as it creates a more successful video due to the ability for the audience to actually feel the emotions the characters are going through. My group and I have planned out a rough plot for our music video and we wanted to make it quite different to what you would expect. Therefore, in order to truly illustrate the emotional intensity of the video, the visuals must match the lyrics and the musical tones. The best way of doing this is as Kodaline's video for "All I Want" shows: changing the saturation and brightness, etcetera. Furthermore, despite the plot for "All I Want" not being the same as for my own music video, it inspired me to filter some of my scenes to make it look duller so that it looks like an analepsis, as the present-time scenes in my video will be brighter, with a higher saturation, etcetera. 

In Birdy's music video for "Wings", she makes good use of vintage style clothing. As this is an indie genre convention, I thought taking this as an inspiration would make my own video more successful. Despite the fact that my music video will be set in contemporary times, I still want there to be a prevalent vintage feel to it. Therefore, the costumes that I want to pick for the characters will be less modern. However, I do not actually want to completely use this inspiration in the manner that Birdy's costumes in this video are too extravagantly vintage. Instead, this video has inspired me to somewhat go against mainstream fashion trends and use clothes which the audience would aspire to have as it is different from what they normally see. However, I would not completely want to go against mainstream conventions as having a completely different style of clothing to what the audience may be used to seeing would create a distinct separation between the artist and the audience; they have to be able to relate to the genre convention of the clothing. Whereas in Birdy's video, the clothing the characters are wearing are completely unattainable as nobody would wear the clothes on a daily basis. One example of how I am going to use this inspiration in my own music video is by thinking about using dresses for the female artist, instead of jeans, as this both conforms to the indie genre as well as keeping in line with the vintage theme. From prior research, such as looking at Dyer's theory of stars, I used this inspiration from Birdy to try to plan out how to best represent my artist as being both ordinary and extraordinary. Therefore, I evidently do not want to use clothes that the audience would not be able to affordably obtain, however the clothing must make audience want to wear what the artist does, which Birdy's video has inspired me to ensure. 

This music video also aided in getting an inspiration for the how to best represent my artist; Birdy represented quite stereotypically: as she is young, she is quite care as demonstrated by the excessive partying. However, there are actually two representations of her as the video makes strong use of cross-cutting between two different scenes; one of them displays Birdy partying with a lot of other people and the other shows her on her own, singing. The use of illustrating two sides of the artist is something which I wish to employ in my own music video as I think it is an effective way to connect with the audience as they are getting to know the artist more. Having two different representations also relates to the audience as it shows what the artist is like when they are with people but ultimately they may feel alone, which a lot of the target audience will understand and relate to. Furthermore, to further pull on the audience's emotions, the video makes use of close-up shots of the artist when she are sitting alone as well as wide shots to really display their isolation and loneliness. Both these shots are extremely effective and therefore have inspired me to use in my own video. I like the use of the close-up shots as it means you can really see the artist's facial expressions and therefore the audience can sympathize with the audience more. The close up shots allow you to clearly see what the artist is feeling, and in the case of Birdy, she never smiles; this has inspired me for my own video as due to the fact that my music video will have performance and narrative aspects, I can use a lot of close-ups in the performance parts to show the artist's emotions. This is useful as the performance parts will be in between the narrative shots and therefore allow the audience to really get to know the artist more; they will be able to clearly see the two sides of the artist, one when they are alone and the other when they are with other people. On the other hand, the wide shots are good as you can see the location as well as the artist and therefore get more of a feel of the video, as well as making the artist look smaller in comparison to everything else and exemplifies her loneliness. I want to incorporate this in my music video, as I want to establish the setting of the video, as it will be set in the countryside, and show the artist within the setting. This way, the video will seem more authentic and have a more rustic feel to it, which will appeal to the audience. The video has inspired me to ensure I use a variety of shots in every part of my own music video.

In addition, from watching Labrinth and Sigma's "Higher", I can see a good variety of cinematography that I could potentially apply to my own music video. One specific shot I liked was the use of a panning shot. In "Higher", a panning shot is used from a high angle taken in a helicopter. Evidently, my budget does not stretch as far as being able to afford a helicopter; however, the same principle of the panning shot can be applied. In my own music video, the panning shot will be useful in the car scene where the two characters are driving along and they break down. The use of a panning shot will allow the audience to get a scope of both the characters in the car and the surrounding location. This way, the audience will consequently get more of a rustic feel from the video, a convention of the indie genre. Furthermore, a panning shot is a good way to establish where the music video is set and therefore can give the audience clues as to the plot of the video. Whilst watching "Higher", I was able to quickly come to the conclusion that the video was going to have some sort of allusion to climbing a mountain, perhaps both metaphorically or literally as the panning shot showed a whole scope of the location, which enabled us to see footsteps of someone climbing "Higher" up a slope. I was therefore inspired to use the same idea within my own music video, as the panning shot could give the audiences suggestions as to what is going to happen; this is appealing for them as it is exciting to try to figure out what is going to happen.

Another inspiration I have taken is from Tom Odell's "Grow Old With Me" music video. The inspiration I took was the use of both narrative and performance concepts as I think this will make a more appealing video. Tom Odell features in the video as he plays the piano as well as sings. In my own video, I want to include the artist playing the piano as well as I think playing a musical instrument will help to portray the artist as being extraordinary as well as ordinary, as Dyer's paradox theory suggests. This is more effective as the target audience will aspire to be more like the artist and appeal to the video more as it keeps it as interesting as possible. In "Grow Old With Me" the artist plays the piano as well as sing which attracts the audience more as it means those who unfortunately cannot see Tom Odell play live, will actually feel like they are able to. Having this experience is essential for the audience as they want to be able to connect to the artist as much as possible. Therefore, I want to use this performance aspect in my video and make it look as realistic as possible. My own artist, Amy, will be filmed playing the piano as well as being filmed just singing to the audience; in the editing, we can cross-cut between the performance shots we would like to use. I have also been inspired by the narrative aspect of Tom Odell's music video. Furthermore, as I plan to include a variety of different shots, as Tom Odell does in his video of "Grow Old With Me", it will keep the audience immersed in the visuals as they can truly see the passion he has for playing the instrument. I want to incorporate this very passionate approach in my own video, as I want it to seem as realistic as possible. In addition, having a narrative aspect to the video is beneficial as it gives the lyrics meaning and brings them to life which is something I personally think is exceedingly crucial, especially within the indie genre which is all about deeper meanings and connotations. Furthermore, the narrative and performance aspect will link together as it will create the effect that the artist is singing about a real-life and personal experience; therefore, the music video will be a lot more emotional and meaningful, which is how I want my own video to be like. In Tom Odell's video for "Grow Old With Me", he uses a young boy and girl, rather than a more adult couple. This is surprising as you do not expect the artist to be writing about children; therefore after watching this video, I was inspired to think outside of the box with my own music video and try to turn away from the automatic assumption or connotation the audience may jump to about the lyrics. For my own video, I want the plot to have an unexpected turn, such as the male protagonist dying, as the audience would not expect this after reading the lyrics. This way, the video will be more unique and therefore more interesting.

To conclude, having musical inspirations is extremely helpful as it is something to guide me whilst producing my own music video. I definitely think having an indie genre music video is the best option as it gives a lot of freedom as to what elements to include. Furthermore, having both narrative and performance styles of music video is a strong option to take on as it is far more interesting and appealing for the audience due to deeper meanings and emotions which are expressed throughout. For the audience of the indie genre, this is something which they strongly appeal to. As I have watched a lot of indie genre music videos, I have a lot of ideas of what to include and how to make it stand out from other indie music videos. Planning out my own inspirations is useful as it allows me to compare and contrast with my group's individual inspirations and take bits and pieces of ideas from everyone's. For instance, one person liked the use of the countryside location, whereas another person liked the city location; therefore we were able to employ both settings in our music video by having fast-paced scenes of London edited in at specific points. This effectively creates a more personal and unique music video as my group and myself were able to plan out exactly what we personally liked, which is important as the target audience will be of a similar age to ourselves and therefore will be likely to appeal to similar elements we do. 

risk assessment

The purpose of risk assessment whilst participating in production of any media piece is to simply review a situation in the process of production, i.e. filming a particular scene, and seeing if there are any risks involved in order to maximum the reduction of any accidents. Risk assessments are a filming requirement and aid in forming a beneficial health and safety regulation to adhere to in all situations. Therefore, any hazards and risks can be made aware of as well as identifying exactly whom is at risk; in this case, is it the actors/actresses or filming crew? Risk assessment also helps to establish what the most appropriate measures that must be taken are. During the risk assessment process, we have laid out a plan B so that there are no hindrances during the filming and therefore we can stay on schedule. Having a risk assessment will ensure that everyone in the group is aware of any potential dangers and will immediately know the alternative and rectifying course of action to take. 

Conclusively, my group and I did largely follow our risk assessment as much as possible. As we were already aware of any potential dangers, we will be continuously trying to take precautions whilst filming to reduce any problems as much as possible. For example, for the performance scenes where we used candles, we came prepared to the filming location with battery candles as well as real-life candles as we were aware that there could be high-risks. During the filming of the London scenes, I took a friend with me to help with the filming. This was actually extremely useful for me as she helped with keeping an eye on the equipment whilst I tried to look for good locations which were less-populated. However, there were some issues during filming. For example, during the running scene, there were weather issues such as high-level of winds; this caused the equipment to be knocked over. Therefore, this became an obstacle for Amy whilst she was running and was exceedingly dangerous. We quickly came up with a solution for this issue; someone who was not in charge of a particular shot would ensure the tripod is stationary throughout the filming. We also had an issue with the weather affecting the camera; as it it is not waterproof and it was raining, there was a risk of the camera not working any more. In addition, water drops kept getting on our camera lens and therefore obstructing the quality of the visuals. Therefore, we were forced to reschedule. The weather itself was the main risk through our entire production. A lot of the other risks that we mentioned did not pose to be an issue as we ensured that we took precautions to prevent any risks from occurring. Whilst filming the performance scenes that used candles, we still used the fire candles as opposed to the battery candles as we took measures to avoid any risks: we places them in the centre of the top of the piano with nothing inflammable around them. Overall, the risk assessment was extremely helpful as it reduced any risks as much as possible.

filming schedule

A filming schedule is important to have it is a way of effectively organizing yourself in order to create a more successful music video. Having a schedule means that you can set yourself targets to achieve by a specific date and therefore you will get a lot more done. These targets can be set for the group as a whole as well as individually as different members of the group can be allocated different responsibilities as to what they are filming. In my own group, we shared out the role of filming specific scenes as we recognized the practicality and efficiency of doing so. As Molly lives in Debden, very close to Theydon Bois, one of our filming locations, she took on the role of filming the scenes in this area, such as when the couple first meet. Similarly, Claire was given the responsibility of the performance aspect of the music video as she actually owns a piano in her house. My own duty was directed towards filming the shots of London which will be edited to be placed in a time-lapse. As you can see, sharing out responsibility according to a specific schedule is a far more effective approach than everyone doing each task together when not everyone is actually needed to do this. Furthermore, the filming schedule will help us when we film as we will remember exactly needs to be included in the specific scene we are going to film on a specific day; this is crucial as it is a headache and time-wasting to forget things. In addition, having the filming schedule there ensures that you take precautions in checking for the weather forecast or any other factors which may affect the filming on a specific day you have scheduled.

Ultimately, my group and I did closely follow the filming schedule as much as possible; all the locations mentioned above were used, alongside all the correct shots and iconography. Molly shot the scenes in Theydon Bois with Amy and Morgan - the two characters - on the day we planned, as this is one of the first shots of the video and was quite easy to film in regards to the nearby location, the availability of the two characters and the weather. As this was the first meeting of the two characters that would be seen in the video, we wanted to ensure the weather would fit the scene; we did have a back-up plan in case of a downpour, however if it were sunny - even if mildly - it would be preferable as it would match the happy and innocent mood we desired for a first encounter. The date we put for filming the performance aspect of the video also stayed the same as Claire was available at this day; availability was our only concern as we did not have to worry about other factors such as weather. However, despite our efficiency of keeping to schedule, we actually realized that these scenes would be needed to be re-filmed as due to the darkness of the room, the shot came out looking grainy and of low-quality. Therefore, instead of shooting the scene in low-key lighting, we decided to shoot it at a brighter period of the day; it is easier to shoot a scene in high-key lighting and then just reduce the lighting brightness when we get onto editing. We set a date to re-film these scenes for the 13th of November. My own responsibility was for shooting the scenes of London and I was actually able to go ahead of schedule and film them on the day before we planned out as I was going up to London with a friend and therefore was able to use this opportunity to film the sights. However, we did run a little off schedule; one example is when we had to change the day of filming the scene of Amy running as the weather conditions meant that it was extremely muddy and therefore it was too unsafe for Amy to run in. Even if we tried to be cautious in filming, there was still the danger of Amy falling and therefore we did not want this to happen. In addition, as it was still raining, Amy would have preferred to run when she would not get wet. Furthermore, the camera lens would have gotten rain-drops on it and this would have obscured the visuals produced from the camera. Therefore, Molly re-filmed these scenes on the following day when the weather conditions were much more suitable. However we also had the issue of trying to fit in our filming schedule with Amy's filming schedule as she has to participate in her own group's music video production. There were one or two occasions where our schedule clashed and we actually had to re-schedule for the following week which hindered on our own schedule. Overall, I think my group and I did a very proficient job of keeping to schedule, and if there were times when we drifted away from it due to external factors, we managed to quickly use our back-up plans to get us back on track.

However, if I had the chance to plan and record the production of the music video again, I think I would have planned out more narrative scenes, to cut between the performance scenes. From watching indie music videos for inspiration and research, I liked how a lot of them use quick cuts between performance and narrative scenes; whereas in specific parts of my group and I's music video, we used quick cuts between performance shots, making the performance aspect seem more dominant than the narrative. The reason for this is that we actually filmed a lot more shots than we needed. As we wanted to ensure we had backup footage we actually over-compensated the amount of filming. During the filming of the performance aspect of the video, we filmed chunks of the song but from different angles and positions in order to cut between them in the editing, so the video would be far more interesting than if it was all from one angle. Overall, having a filming schedule has been exceedingly beneficial for my group and I as we were able to be organized and precise in our production. If we did not have a schedule we would be wasting a lot of time deliberating over what to actually film and then what we have already filmed and what is left to film. 

music video storyboard

The purpose of a storyboard is simply to plan out the individual shots that you will need to take when you film your video. Creating a storyboard before you start filming is exceedingly beneficial as it saves time as you know exactly what you are doing. In addition, a storyboard will reduce the chance of your shots being incoherent and unusable; if you do not know what exact shots you want to take and just take random ones, they may not fit together when you get to editing. It also means that you will know what costume and props from the iconography to use for particular shots when filming. Creating a storyboard means that you can show other people precisely how the music video is going to be made and you can coherently talk about the video in detail. Production of the music video will be incredibly easier as it ensures you will not forget any necessary shots you need to take; it also is beneficial for when you are editing as you can put the video together in the correct order. Furthermore, if you have only planned some of the shots for the video and have started editing them, you will know which ones you have left to film and therefore it saves time.

Below are pictures of all the pages of my group and I's storyboard. As you can see, there are quite a lot of pages as we planned out every single shot in detail so that when it came to filming, we would be completely prepared and not be wasting time trying to figure out how to take the shot or forget to bring the necessary props/costume etc for the shot. We did actually forget to color in the storyboard images which would have helped in quickly knowing what the costume will be. We have decided to use the same scene we have used at the beginning, at the end as well. This is simply due to the fact that it gives a better finish and allows the audience to connect what they have initially seen to the rest of the narrative and answers any questions they may of had at the beginning of the narrative.

To plan the music video for the song "Salvation", I had to use both my primary and secondary research that I carried out previously. The primary research I carried out by producing a questionnaire relevant to the music video advocated in the planning of the music video as it allowed me to gain more insight into people's preferences of what should be in the music video. For instance, within the questionnaire, we asked 40 people whether they prefer indie artists who play musical instruments in their music videos; 47% said yes, whilst only 40% said no. Taking this information, my group and I decided to incorporate a musical instrument into our own music video which is why we allocated specific parts of the song to the artist performing the song. Many other aspects of the video have been taken from my research; the vox pops also aided in helping to provide inspirations. One of the questions on the vox pops was asking whether the audience participant prefers the location of the countryside or city; more people said the city and therefore we decided to incorporate shots of London in our video. In order to make it more obvious it was the city, we planned out various locations such as London Bridge, Oxford Street and Covent Garden. As this is an indie love story, using London shots would subvert some of the conventions of the genre and therefore appeal to the audience more as the video will be more unique. Overall, the primary research helped to plan out a more successful music video as the majority of my group and I's decisions were shaped around the audience's answers given in the questionnaire. 

We also had to carry about secondary research of gaining inspirations from other artists of the same genre. As my group and I's artist belonged to the indie genre, we focused on artists such as Ed Sheeran, Tom Odell, Nina Nesbitt, Birdy and of course, Gabrielle Aplin herself. From looking at Gabrielle Aplin first, we noticed a trend in her look; she prefers a minimal look, with more casual-style clothing and natural makeup. Therefore, for our own artist, Amy, we wanted to keep the costume and makeup planning as low-key as possible as the audience want the artist to be extraordinary enough that they can aspire to them, yet if the artist wore designer clothing and a lot of makeup, it would not fit the genre, but rather come across as quite mainstream. My group and I also noticed that artists such as Gabrielle Aplin, Birdy and Tom Odell all played musical instruments in their video. The song we picked, "Salvation", featured an instrumental of a piano and as Amy could actually play it, we decided to definitely feature one. In addition, as stated previously, in our primary research of the questionnaires we carried out, more people mentioned that they do like to see the artist playing an instrument and therefore it was beneficial to include this performance aspect in planning the storyboard. This also helps to maintain that extraordinary perception the audience has of the artist, as it is important that they can take something from the music video, otherwise it appears quite boring. Another inspiration we took from our research into the indie genre was the different shot types that many artists used. In Birdy's music video for "Skinny Love" she is shown playing the piano; as we wanted to have Amy playing the piano as well, we looked into this video in depth. We noticed that even though there was not much occurring in the performance aspect, expect the artist playing an instrument, it was still quite interesting to watch as the shots never stayed the same for more than three seconds; the range of extreme close ups, to mid-shots and wide shots from different angles of behind and to the side, kept the performance aspect exceedingly refreshing. Therefore, we ensured to employ the same variety of shots in our own music video. We planned out extreme close up shots such as Amy's foot on the pedals of the piano, or her fingers playing the keys, etc. This way, our music video would be perpetually interesting for the audience.

My group and I started off storyboarding our music video by analyzing the lyrics of our chosen song, Salvation. We did this so that the shots we chose made complete sense and actually matched what Gabrielle Aplin was writing about. However, we evidently did not copy out the literal meaning shot by shot as firstly, many meanings could be taken from the lyrics and secondly, we wanted to make the video as unique as we could. There were some lyrics that we thought had connotations of death, such as "glorious we transcend into a psychedelic silhouette", which matched our narrative, as the male protagonist actually dies at the end of our music video. Analyzing the lyrics meant that it was a lot easier to come up with a coherent and interesting narrative with a lot of ideas of shots so that we do not run out of things to film. We then started writing out each individual shot that is going to be included and in the correct sequence. The reason for doing so is to we know the correct order to put all our shots in when we start editing the filming. To help keep track of the number of shots we would be taken and how long each shot would be, we ensured to include the framing number and the duration of each individual shot; this enabled us to keep track of how many minutes of the song we have taken up. Consequently, we nit-picked over the very necessity of the shots to include as our timing was limited. Within the storyboard we also included images to give a rough idea of what the shot will look like. Drawing images to match the shot type is exceedingly useful as it helps with visualizing the shot and therefore when we get to actually filming the video, we will be able to quickly set up the scene to match the storyboard. During filming we would be referring back to the storyboard frequently and therefore it was vital that we put as much visual information on it as possible to avoid any confusion. Therefore, the actual writing we included in the storyboards has been selected in a particular way; along with the basic information such as the shot type, the editing style, the lighting, the location and iconography, we have also expanded on details by giving information about the actual narrative content and the sound (the lyrics) that will go along with the shot. This is exceedingly beneficial for keeping the narrative and performance parts of the video in time with the music and the lyrics. The artist will be showing performing the song and therefore she must be both singing the song and playing the piano completely in time. The storyboard will aid in doing so as it will show which parts MUST be shown at a specific time according to when a particular line of the song is sung.

The creation of the storyboard was a group effort; we started the process during class and therefore had the opportunity to work together on it. We all put input into our thoughts as to how long we think each shot should as keeping the duration to a specific timing can be difficult when there are a lot of things you want to include. However, as we did not finish the storyboard during class time, Molly decided to stay on and complete it during the next hour after class as she had a free period. She finished writing out all the information and then Claire and I finished off the drawings to accompany the relevant shots. Before we actually started creating the storyboard, we first discussed how to best approach it. First, we referred back to the lyrics that we analyzed as our annotations aided in acknowledging where each shot will be and all the different misc-en-scene components that will be included in each one.

Overall, my group and I followed the storyboard to nearly exactly how we produced it. This is due to the fact that we created the storyboard so well and detailed that it needed minimal changing. However, there were some instances in the storyboard where shots were moved around a little. For example, the London scenes we decided to put it had to be fiddled with a little in order to match the scenes before and after it; in the storyboard, there were some parts where the London scenes did not actually match and we only realized when we started filming and put the shots together. There was also the issue of natural lighting and weather conditions. During planning our storyboard out, we did obviously take into account some factors that may affect our filming. However, we did not anticipate the quality of the filming indoors if it was dark outside. For example, for our performance scenes where Amy is playing the piano, we played to film it in low-key lighting, with just candles providing our lighting. As we filmed these scenes when it was not particularly light outside, the quality of the footage was not brilliant, as the lens gave a grainy looking effect to the visuals. Therefore, we had to rethink this and instead of turning off the lights, and filming when it was dark outside, we still used candles, but just turned on the lights in the room. This is simply as the candles were essential to the music video, however we could simply edit the footage to make it appear darker; it is better to film during lighter conditions as the quality will not deteriorate when you edit it to make it darker. There was also another obstructing factor: the weather conditions affected the day we could film the scene of Amy on a run. As it had rained on the previous day to filming and it was still raining when we got to filming, there was a hazard of Amy running as she could have slipped and hurt herself badly. There was also the risk of the camera getting wet; therefore we had to reschedule the day we filmed this scene as we did not anticipate the weather conditions. However, I do think that our storyboard was ultimately a success as we ensured to use maximum detail to minimalize any issues.

planning individual magazine advert

The prime importance of a magazine advert for a music artist is simply to promote themselves and their music as much as they possibly can. Adverts are displayed all around places such as bus stops, tube and train stations, and billboards. Therefore, a large and wide range of people would be constantly viewing the advert and therefore it is more likely they will search up the artist's upcoming album and share it round with their friends; this helps promote the artist further and they will make more sales. In addition, this method of advertizing helps the artist to reach a larger number of their target audience; for example, for Gabrielle Aplin, she would want 15-25 year olds who enjoy the indie genre to notice the advert. Magazine adverts also creates synergy between the artist and another company as the latter will help advertize and promote the artist and their music; if the artist is featured on a magazine, there will most probably be an interview to coincide with the feature and therefore the audience can go learn more about the artist. I myself will be creating a magazine advert for my artist, Gabrielle Aplin. As I am producing a indie genre music video, my magazine's codes and conventions must be a reflection of this. To make the advert, I first needed to plan out the design I will choose and what will be featured. Planning is crucial as it provides a clear basis for laying out initial ideas which you can later on adapt or remove if appropriate. The plan version of my advert will act as a guide to what I will later create and allow me to put down as many different ideas all on one paper and then see what works best.

My magazine advert has been made for Gabrielle Aplin's album "English Rain", which my group and I have changed to "Desolation" and used the artist name "Amy-Michaela". However, there are still various elements I have kept similar to Gabrielle Aplin's style. For example, the typography I have opted for is the same as the one Gabrielle Aplin uses in her album. In my actual magazine advert I will be using the artist name "Amy-Michaela", however in my plan I forgot to change her name. I have decided to use the same typography as it is simple yet still interesting. However, when I make the real magazine I will slightly alter it so that I do not completely copy the original idea. It is conventional of the indie genre to not be elaborate in their design as the music itself is simplistic and therefore it is a reflection of the artist's authenticity. This is more appealing for the target audience as they will subliminally expect to see certain aspects within the magazine advert; if they see an extremely extravagant design and font used then they would not appeal to the advert as much as it does not conform to the indie conventions; therefore they would be be less likely to buy the album. Furthermore, using a simple font means that the audience can aspire and relate to the audience more easily which is a more appealing for them. However, it is also beneficial in representing the artist as being quite deep in the aspect that there is a plain and simple surface portrayal of the artist yet underneath the front cover, within the music, there is much more to the artist than meets the eye. I have also kept the typography of the album title the same as Gabrielle Aplin's in my draft; however, I again will alter it slightly when producing the real magazine advert to fit more with the main image and theme of my magazine. I have also chosen to keep the language I have used in the magazine simplistic to again reflect the simple nature of the music and genre. Having more information on the magazine advert would give it an unconventional cluttered effect which would not appeal to the audience. Furthermore, a lot of people who read magazines would scan the front page first before purchasing it as they first want to see if they find it interesting. If there was a lot of information on it then the audience would not be particularly interested in buying it as they only care for the succinct main information and nothing more. Therefore, in my own magazine advert I have only included three of the singles included in the album which would be more well-known to the public and therefore attract them into purchasing the album. I have also given a list of the platforms in which the audience can listen to the album which would be useful if they want to quickly find the type of album they are looking for. My target audience consists of 15-25 year olds; this age group in specific certainly do not want to be reading complex and long language as they will quickly become bored; my magazine advert needs to consistently adhere to the needs of my target audience. The actual choice of words I have opted for are also extremely crucial; words such as "acclaimed" to describe the singles included in the album help to portray a positive and successful image of the album and encourage the audience to buy the album. It is more effective to use short snappy sentences with positive words to grab the audience's attention, rather than long, figurative language that bores the audience by not quickly getting to the point. The language used is also beneficial in presenting the actual music itself; the artist's music is shown to be more focused on the quality of the music rather than the quantity or anything else. The target audience would evidently appeal to this idea as they themselves would thoroughly enjoy the indie genre who uphold the convention of focusing on the substance rather than image. 

In addition, I have also thought about the layout and design of the magazine as this is exceedingly important in shaping the whole magazine for the eyes of the audience. I have focused upon the alignment of everything in the advert; the album title and the artist's name has been copied from Gabrielle Aplin's album as I liked how due to its central positioning, it drew the eye directly to it. Furthermore, as it is at the top of the page, the audience can quickly and coherently read it to know who the advert is about and aimed at. This also means that there is a lot more room to include anything else needed as the titles are out of the way. Therefore, as I had three-quarters of page room to use, I decided to have the main image fill up nearly the entire page. This is effective as it means that it is completely clear for the audience to look at. The actual image features a girl on the road, with her back to the camera yet looking directly at it. I purposely chose to use every one of these elements as I wanted to create deeper meanings and connotations. The use of the girl on a road creates enigma codes within the advert as the audience are left wondering who she is and why she is all alone on a road, at night time. I chose to use a road as it has a deeper meaning of the journey that the artist is going on. Having the artist with their back to the camera except their face will suggest that she is quite mysterious yet is inviting the audience into knowing more about her. In addition, I have chosen to use an image of the artist during the night as the dark natural lighting accentuates the theme of mystery and invites the audience in from curiosity to know more about the artist. The image will help to attract the audience as it closely follows the indie genre conventions; indie artists tend to not use close up images of their face as they do not focus on themselves but rather their music and creating meanings. I have also included the Parlophone company name and logo on the top left hand corner; despite it being small, I wanted to include it to establish where the artist is signed to as it is part of her and her music. It also helps to promote her as if the audience want to find out more about her, they can go to Parlophone's website and find out more. In addition, I put it in Amy-Michaela's website on the bottom right hand corner; again, I put it in small print again as it is important but merely an afterthought of importance compared to the rest of the text. Including the website means that the audience have a platform where they can find out more about the audience and therefore engage with them more. Therefore, the audience can be promoted further this way as it establishes them as being quite successful as they have their own website.

Within the image, I have focused on limiting the amount of color I will use in my magazine advert. It is conventional of the indie genre to not use a lot of color, particularly bright colors; they tend to use more neutral colors. I have focused on greens and browns, with the addition of shades of blacks/greys. Greens and browns are more earthly colors and reflect the convention of indie music to use countryside locations within their music videos. This helps to maintain the authenticity of the artist and their music. Using blacks and greys is helpful in creating the enigmatic aspect to the magazine advert. In addition, I have purposely eluded using whites or creams, a convention of the indie genre. I want to subvert the conventions of representing the artist as innocent as possible as the color white connotes purity and innocence, whereas black is the opposite. However, to not go too against the indie conventions, I plan to have the artist wearing a costume of more beige or cream colors to juxtapose with the dark natural lighting in order to maintain the idea of the artist being quite an ambiguous and complex character. This is more appealing for the audience as it allows them to become an active audience and actually try to interpret the artist in their own way and truly engage with them, instead of just accepting everything given to them. The indie genre conventionally rejects escapism which audiences in the other genres, e.g. pop, focus more on as the audience and artist are placed on similar levels to each other. Although I have laid out a specific color scheme, I do not wish to use filters within my magazine; if I do, they will extremely subtle. This is simply due to the desire to conforming to the indie convention of keeping everything as genuine as possible; heavily filtering the image will add in a strong degree of artificiality.

From previously analyzing a magazine advert for Gabrielle Aplin, I had more awareness of what to include in the planning of this magazine advert. Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert gave me inspirations as I wanted to create something unique yet simplistic, like her's.  I also took the idea of using greys and blacks as it gives a more powerful deeper meaning than simply using a plain color such as just white. I liked the idea of there being a juxtaposition between dull and miserable colors, with brighter colors. I will incorporate this inspiration into my own magazine as I will use greys and blacks for the background with dark natural lighting and increase the saturation on the trees. However, looking at Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert also gave me an inspirations due to lack of what she has not included. For example, I included in the use of ratings from two music magazines - NME and Billboard - as this would help promote the artist even further by demonstrating that although this is her debut album, she is extremely successful. Therefore, the audience will find the magazine more appealing and be more inclined to read it and buy the artist's music as they know highly placed companies have rated it extremely well. 

From doing extensive research into other indie magazine adverts, I have been able to create a more successful advert of my own, as I am aware of the indie codes and conventions that the target audience appeal to. This way, my magazine focuses on what the audience want to see and will appreciate, allowing a more personal relationship between the artist and audience to form as the artist has taken the audience's needs into consideration. For example, choosing an indie location is extremely crucial when promoting the artist and their album and helps to engage the audience as they are automatically aware of the genre of music they are seeing. Furthermore, I had to ensure to take the layout of the magazine into deep consideration, as from looking at other magazine adverts, from both the indie genre and other genres, I can see what sets the indie genre apart: the image of the artist should not take up the most room nor be right in your face. Gabrielle Aplin's magazine advert inspired me to make the artist prominent in the magazine but not the sole focus. Instead, I have focused on how the different elements, such as the color, can say more about the artist an their music than an image of the artist themselves. For example, the use of a night-time image with the artist's face more illuminated creates deeper connotations about the artist's emotions and what the content of the music could be like; I think this has made my magazine more successful. In addition, a better relationship between the artist and audience can be formed as the audience can see that a lot of thought has gone into the construction of the layout. Furthermore, as the magazine advert is quite different to what the audience may usually see, in regards to the use of a night-time setting, they may find it more refreshing as it is unique, and thus be more appealed to the artist and their music.

In relation to taking pictures for my advert and preparing for the use of Photoshop, I found this research quite useful. The research has aided me in coming up with an extremely successful and relevant image that matches my music video; I had a range of ideas and picked the one which I thought held the most meaning and uniqueness to it. Knowing what image I will use and the colors I will include will help with preparing me for using Photoshop as I will focus on the most important elements I need in the software. Planning the magazine advert has advocated in awareness of pictures needed as when I am filming with the characters in the music video, I will know what pictures I want to take with them right there. I will know what I want the characters to wear or how to stand and what facial expressions they will be wearing, etcetera. Therefore, now that I have planned out my magazine advert I now feel more prepared to create it and to ensure I will conform to and subvert particular indie genre conventions that I would like to.