EVALUATION

COMPLETED MAIN TEXT - MUSIC VIDEO

If I had a Heart - Autumn of the Jolly from Bradley Crack on Vimeo.

COMPLETED WEBSITE

COMPLETED DIGIPAK

'FRONT COVER'

'BACK COVER'

'SPINE'

'INSIDE COVER'

'INLAY'

'COMPACT DISC'

Shot List

This post was created between me and my partner:

Intended Shot List: Music Video
KEY:
CU - Close Up
MS- Mid Shot
LS- Long Shot
XCU - Extreme Close Up
HA - High Angle
Highlighted in Pink - Band shot
Highlighted in White - Narrative

1. Hand on guitar (CU)
2. Cut off shot of legs (MS-HA)
3. Hand on guitar (CU)
4. Lucy at Piano (MS)
5. Cut off shot of legs (MS-HA)
6. Lucy at Piano (MS)
7. Callum spinning drumsticks (MS)
8. Cut off shot of legs (MS-HA)
9. Callum preparing for drumming (MS)
10. Feet and bottom of legs (CU)
11. Zooms into feet (XCU)
12. Guitar being played (CU)
13. Brad playing guitar, Lucy playing piano (2 Shot MS)
14. Guitar being played (CU)
15. Callum drumming (MS)
16. Drums being played (CU)
17. Callum drumming (MS)
18. Callum spinning sticks whilst playing, Lucy in background (2 Shot MS)
19. Guitar being strummed (XCU)
20. Lucy Concentrating (MCU)
21. Brad and Lucy playing instruments (2 Shot MS)
22. Brad strumming guitar (CU)
23. Lucy playing keyboard, focusing on hands (CU)
24. Brad singing first line (CU)
25. Callum playing drums, Lucy in background (2 Shot MS)
26. Shot drum (XCU)
27. Back to Callum playing drums with Lucy in background (2 Shot MS)
28. Lucy playing keyboard from low angle (MS)
29. Brad singing (CU)
30. Callum Drumming (MS)
31. Lucy playing keyboard from low, side angle (MS)
32. Lucy pressing keys (CU)
33. Lucy playing keyboard from low, side angle (MS)
34. Lucy pressing keys high angle (XCU))
35. Lucy playing keyboard from low, side angle (MS)
36. Callum drumming (CU)
37. Brad singing and playing guitar, Lucy playing keyboard in background (2 Shot MS)
38. Guitar being strummed (CU)
39. Lucy playing keyboard (LS)
40. Brad playing guitar Low angle (MS)
41. Cesi walking into the shot (LS)
42. Cesi looking around whilst walking (CU)
43. Cut back to Cesi walking out to the left of the shot (LS)
44. Multiple people in shot walking past one another (LS)
45. Brad playing guitar (MS)
46. Brad singing into microphone (XCU)
47. Brad singing from another angle (CU)
48. Brad playing guitar (CU)
49. Hands on fretboard of guitar (XCU)
50. Brad strumming (CU)
51. Lucy Playing keyboard (CU)
52. Brad playing into the light (Medium Shot)
53. Brad singing into microphone (CU)
54. Callum drumming (MS)
55. Callum drumming, Lucy playing keyboard (2 Shot MS)
56. All of the band playing their respective instruments from low angle (3 Shot LS)
57. Brad singing into microphone (MS)
58. Callum shot over the top of the cymbal (CU)
59. Drum being hit (XCU)
60. Brad singing into microphone (CU)
61. Over the shoulder of brad singing (CU)
62. Return to Brad singing front on (CU)
63. Moving shot of Lucy from over the shoulder (MS/CU)
64. Guitar being strummed (XCU)
65. Callum drumming (MS)
66. Lucy playing keyboard, focuses on keys (CU)
67. High angle shot of lucy playing keyboard (XCU)
68. Brad playing guitar and singing on left hand side of shot (Medium Shot)
69. Brad singing very far left of shot (CU)
70. Callum drumming, Lucy Playing (2 Shot MS)
71. Brad playing guitar on left hand side (Medium Shot)
72. Lucy smiling (CU)
73. Brad singing on very far left again (CU)
74. Panning in close up of Microphone (XCU)
75. High angle shot of Lucys hands on keyboard (XCU)
76. Brad singing on very far left once again (CU)
77. Guitar being strummed (XCU)
78. Low angle shot of Lucy playing keyboard (MS)
79. Callum drumming, Lucy playing (2 Shot MS)
80. Return to Low angle shot of Lucy (MS)
81. Callum drumming (MS)
82. Brads Legs (MS)
83. Callums arm in shot playing drums (CU)
84. Callum drumming (MS)
85. Brads Legs (MS)
86. High angle shot of Lucy playing keyboard (XCU)
87. Strumming of guitar (XCU)
88. Brads Legs (MS)
89. Cut back to strumming of guitar (XCU)
90. Very Low angle shot of Brad playing guitar and singing (MS)
91. Side on shot of Lucy playing keyboard (MS)
92. Brads Legs (MS)
93. Return to Side on shot of Lucy (MS)
94. Brad playing guitar (CU)
95. Brad singing in left of shot (CU)
96. Brad with back to camera playing guitar (Medium shot)
97. Over the shoulder shot of Brad singing (CU)
98. Brad Singing in left of Shot (CU)
99. Callum drumming focuses on drums (CU)
100. Low angle shot of Callum (CU)
101. Lucy playing keyboard (MS)
102. Callum drumming, head cut off, taken over cymbal (MS)
103. Side on shot of Callums face (XCU)
104. Cymbals with Callum drumming in background (XCU)
105. Shot of bass drum being kicked (CU)
106. Group shot of Cesi surrounded by friends (5-Shot MS)
107. Shot of Cesi and friend playing guitar hero (2 Shot MS)
108. Low angle shot of Cesi and friend playing Guitar hero (2 shot MS)
109. Return to group shot of Cesi with friends (5 Shot MS)
110. Low angle shot of Cesi being congratulated whilst winning at guitar hero (3 shot MS)
111. Shot of all band members playing respective instruments (3 Shot LS)
112. Lucy playing keyboard (LS)
113. Callum drumming, Lucy in background playing keyboard (2 Shot MS)
114. Cesi sitting down with group of friends (Group Shot MS)
115. Shot of Cesi and friend playing guitar hero (2 Shot MS)
116. Returns to Cesi with his friends sat down (Group shot MS)
117. Cesi playing guitar with friends (Group shot MS)
118. Lucy playing keyboard from high angle (CU)
119. Brad playing guitar on right of shot, Lucy playing keyboard set back in left of shot (2 Shot MS)
120. Very Low angle shot of Callum drumming (MS)
121. Cesi going to sit down at a computer (MS)
122. Cesi sitting down at a computer (MS)
123. Close up of Cesi looking at screen (CU)
124. Lucy's hands playing keyboard (CU)
125. Brad singing into microphone taken from low angle (CU)
126. Brad strumming guitar (CU)
127. Lucy concentrating on keyboard (CU)
128. Brad singing into microphone from low angle (CU)
129. Callum drumming focuses on drums (CU)
130. Callum drumming (MS)
131. Brad singing (CU)
132. Low angle shot of Lucy on keyboard (MS)
133. Lucy and Callum playing respective instruments (2 Shot MS)
134. All of band playing (3 Shot LS)
135. Low angle shot of Brad strumming (MS)
136. Brad very left of sot singing (CU)
137. Callum drumming (MS)
138. High angle shot of Lucy playing keyboard (XCU)
139. Hand on fret board of guitar (XCU)
140. Over the shoulder shot of Cesi on computer loading up his email (MS)
141. Shot of emails contents (XCU)
142. Cesi reading the email (CU)
143. Cesi's reaction to the email (laughs) (MS)
144. Brad on far right of shot singing and playing guitar, camera zooming in (MS-CU-XCU)
145. Shot of Cesi coming downstairs toward me (female character) (2 Shot LS)
146. Cesi walking from right of shot to left to meet Kerry (2 shot LS)
147. Cesi and Kerry hugging on left of shot (2 Shot LS)
148. Another cut of Cesi and Kerry Hugging (2 Shot MS)
149. Over my shoulder shot of Cesi hugging Kerry back (2 Shot MS)
150. Brad strumming guitar (MS)
151. Kerry and Cesi swapping numbers on our phones (2 Shot MS)
152. Cesi helping Kerry with our work in study room (2 Shot MS)
153. Lucy playing keyboard (CU)
154. High angle shot of Lucy playing keyboard (CU)
155. Brads hand on Fret board of guitar (XCU)
156. Lucy playing keyboard (CU)
157. Callum drumming (MS)
158. Brad singing into microphone in middle of shot (Medium Shot)
159. Callum tapping cymbals with Lucy in background (2 Shot MS)
160. Cesi and Kerry walking through double doors, Cesi puts his arm around me (2 Shot LS-MS)
161. Reaction shot as Cesi and Kerry see "actual" boyfriend Andy. (3 Shot LS)
162. Over the shoulder shot of Andy confronting Cesi (3 Shot MS)
163. Callum tapping cymbals with Lucy in background (2 Shot MS)
164. Cesi upset in right of shot, whilst I run after Andy (LS)
165. Very low angle shot of brad singing and playing guitar (MS)
166. Callum spinning sticks (MS)
167. Low angle shot of Brad playing guitar and singing (MS)
168. Shot of Andy and I arguing (2 Shot LS)
169. Callum drumming (MS)
170. Return to Andy and I arguing (2 Shot LS)
171. Close up of Callum over top of Cymbal (CU)
172. Cesi approaching Kerry, but I tell him its over (2 Shot MS)
173. Close up of Brads feet (CU)
174. Shot of Kerry walking away from Cesi (2 Shot MS)
175. Low angle shot of Brad playing guitar (MS)
176. Brad strumming (CU)
177. Brad singing (CU)
178. Cesi Entering school (CU)
179. Brad playing guitar (Medium Shot)
180. Group shot of Cesi getting beaten up due to his actions of stealing another boys girlfriend (LS)
181. Different angle of the same shot (Group Shot LS)
182. Return to original angle (Group Shot LS)
183. Different angle as Cesi walks off hurt (Group Shot MS)
184. Cesi continues to walk away hurt (LS)
185. Callum drumming (MS)
186. Drumming, focuses on Drums (CU)
187. Return to Callum drumming (MS)
188. Lucy's hands playing keyboard (CU)
189. Brad strumming guitar (CU)
190. Lucy taken from side playing (CU)
191. Low angle shot of Lucy playing Keyboard (MS)
192. Brad strumming guitar (CU)
193. Cesi walking over to wall to sit down (LS)
194. Cesi sitting down on Wall (LS)
195. Cesi putting his hands over his face (MS)
196. Cesi looking depressed sat on wall (MS)
197. Callum drumming, Lucy in background playing keyboard (2 Shot MS)
198. Brad playing guitar, then fades out (MS)

The Filming and Editing Process in Words

Over the course of making this music video we have had to put a lot of time in filming and editing our main task. Our first filming session began when we set a date for our band shots. Firstly we needed to book the room we needed where we wished to film. This room was equipped with dark or light curtains, lights and a sound system. I arrived a couple hours early prior to filming. I had to transport lots of music equipment into the room including guitars, keyboard, drums, microphone etc. I then set it up within the convention of live music with the drummer in the centre at the back, the keyboardist to the front side and the lead singer front centre. I also tested the music and collected the equipment for filming. The characters then arrived and we checked that everyone had the correct image and costume and that everyone was clear on the structure of the song. We then spent about an hour and half - two hours filming. We started with the base shots. These were mainly of the whole group playing over the track repeatedly. We then all had individual shots where the band members focused on stage presence and flair (for e.g. the drummer performed stick tricks). We then spent a lot of time on handheld shots and close-ups. These shots turned out to pinnacle to the editing process. A lot of shots of the lead singer and drummer came from this collection. This gave us more than enough to work with.

After uploading all of our footage we needed a way of managing it. We spent the best part of an hour going through each clip and deciding whether to keep or delete it. Some shots came out very dark and others were purely just bad shots and not needed. I then uploaded the chosen shots to coral editing studio. Once the track was laid I began to slot in shots here and there. I mainly based this on ideas i'd had for example using good drumming shots in certain places. I left gaps for the narrative but also to add flexibility for later changes. The track is long so to get to the end of the song was time consuming. However I now had around 80% of my band shots in place.

I now needed my narrative shots. The first stage of the story was to show a guy as 'cool' and 'fun'. I joined up with my main actor and we started to film various shots including interactions with friends. However these interactions were both positive and negative as I was filming the beginning and end of the film. For example I shot one shot were a group of his friends 'high-five' him and shower him with friendship and in another the group abuse him and beat him up. I also took shots of him interacting with technology using email. Lastly I took a shot of the actor by himself on where he reflects on his journey which I plan to be the last shot. I felt like I had collected lots of shots to use in the video and that they would create the bulk for the narrative.

After collecting the first lot of narrative shots I began to add them to the film. I had to re-jig a few bands shots to fit the narrative in correctly and careful surrounded the story with shots of the band (singing, guitar playing, drumming etc). I was happy with how the shots looked but after placing them in the desired order it became apparent how important it would be to get a successful middle scene. Our next stage.

Filming the middle part of the narrative went extremely well. I actually found that by filming the beginning and end first that you gain the freedom to make a well thought out middle section. The first stage was to follow on from the email from a girl that said 'hey babe, how are you ?'. I first shot the main character and the girl hugging. They then were talking and exchanging things on their mobile phones and also helping eachother with homework. I felt these shots clearly shown the hidden relationship between the two. I then shot the moment when the girls boyfriend realises that the couple are having a 'fling'. This was my favourite shot. It was dramatic and worked well with the levels of acting including the range of emotions. I then finished with filming a few touch up shots and close-ups of the characters to show their emotions.

These were the last shots we needed and I spent some time placing them within the film. I had to delete a few band shots that I was reluctant to let go but had to for the story to be extensive enough to make sense. I'm now working on making everything run smoothly and their after the music video should be complete.

Actor Profiles

Making my actor profiles and has been useful for me as it gave me a clear idea of who was performing whar role and their part within the music video. By writing a 'bio' type paragraph on them, I am assigning them personalities which I hope to reflect within my editing and how I make them appear on screen. It's important that you have a clear idea of how to piece your video together and that starts with having characters who can complete the desired affect. I feel happy that my characters have given me the look that I intended to go for.

The Making of Our Digipak

Our first idea for our digipak was to use a leaf linking with our band name 'Autumn of the Jolly'. I suggested using the leaf on the back of the album placing the track titles within the leaf. Whilst we were out taking potential photos for the front we tried to see if we could attempt the leaf idea. Kerry with her steady hand placed her camera towards a tree which hosted a lonely leaf. Looking from the underside she managed to take a blur free photo of the leaf which also happened to be of good shape and colour. We then started to photoshop. We started by taking out some of the unwanted branches and leaves in the background. We took out most leaving just the corner as we felt we didn't want the image to be too plain or over manipulated by at the same time we wanted to attention to be on the main leaf not what surrounds it. Therefore we also changed the contrast of the sky making it lighter and intensified some of the colours of the leaf. Strangely enough we found by taking some of the contrast down on the leaf that the colours separated themselves more clearly and the red part was very diminished from the rest of the colours. Now with the back image complete it is just the case of adding the song titles and adding bar codes, copyright terms etc. However we also prepared to change parts of the back cover considering an idea for the front cover hasn't yet been finalised.

The leaf before manipulation:

The leaf after manipulation:

'with the tracks added'

We now looked at making our front cover. We wanted the main image to be pure and simple. Therefore we took a few shots of the main artist with our favourite shown below. The face is neutral and the hair, in particular the fringe, sits well. However my favourite thing about the photo is how the guitar is pictured. It's close to the camera with all the detailing and is at an angle which extends the neck of the guitar. The hand positions are also believable and importantly are not blurred. The girl you see in the background is holding a light. My partner who is more of an expert in photography than myself informed me that by taking the picture in a dark room with a light will eliminate myself and will help to darken the background in editing; hence the girl with the light.

Now with our image we began to darken the background to just leave myself and the guitar as the main picture and the give us the opportunity to change the background. Through photoshop we eliminated parts of the background and turned them black and used the burn tool closer to the image. We also used the spot healing tool to remove any dust particles from the camera lens. This stage is represented below:

Now with our darkened image we had to create something that would stand and be different. We looked at various filters until we came to one we liked called 'charcoal'. With our leaf on the back surrounding by a blue sky we used blue as the background with an orange outline. However, we felt that it generally looked tacky and unprofessional but both agreed that we liked the orange outline which had a drawing effect. This image is represented on the left hand side:







Not particularly keen on our blue background we tried white instead. This looked much, much better in our opinion. It really highlighted the detail of the picture and picked up on my favourite part of the image originally which was the guitar. For example, you can clearly see the frets and neck markings. To finish it off we thickened the strokes to fill out my hair and facial features but also 'rubbed out' a few 'stradely' hairs. We then added our 'Autumn of the Jolly' band logo which was originally created for the website.

'completed front cover'

Above is our finished front cover. You'll notice that the band logo is now in a light blue colour described as 'duck egg' blue. We felt the black was a bit bland and that the blue colour had a lovely contrast with the orange. It also felt 'edgier' and modern. To finish we resized the image to 12.2cm x 14cm so that it would represent an actual sized CD cover.

With both our front and back covers now complete it became apparent how they may not match that well in terms of them theoretically being put together. Therefore we used the same 'charcoal' filter on our back cover as we felt we liked the idea of the front cover more than the back. After changing the filter we thickened the lines and changed the text colour to maroon. We felt the maroon complemented the leaf well and although we would have liked to have used the duck egg blue, it failed to show up as well as the colour chosen. At the bottom of the album we have added the compact-disc logo, a barcode, the website address and the record company copyright 'signature'.

However after finishing the back cover we realised that the hinge of the album would sit on the right hand side of the image therefore we reversed the cover to rectify this. We are very happy with the front and back covers and are glad we have tried to match them. Admittedly they seem simple but yet they both seem extremely effective and we really love the filter we've used.

'completed back cover'

With the back and front covers completed we know need to work on other areas of the digipak. Below shows our spine of the CD case. The background is a block orange colour to complement the white areas around the edge of the front and back covers. It also features small white flowers to continue to theme of Autumn. Placed on top is the band name clearly shown in the middle. Alongside that is the record company name and the serial code.

Next is the CD itself. From my textual analysis it shown me how the CD can be very much based on all your other features from the design. With orange and white being our common theme it made sense to make one of them the base colour. As the base colour for the front and back covers is white we opted for the orange. We then used a custom brush downloaded off myphotoshopbrushes.com, to make the white 'splodges'. The first reason was to make it look as quirky as the rest of the album but we felt it also represented the rawness of releasing a first album and shown the band as real people who have made it, as the paint could represent a labouring job etc. We then added the band name and album title to the side of the hole. Noticeably the heart next to the album title is the same colour as the tracks are in on the back cover. We then added the copyright notice and serial codes at the bottom of the disk in that same brown colour. Here is the finished design:

'The Disc'

Next we had to design the two inside covers. Firstly we started with the disc side (inlay) where the CD sits. Going with our autumn theme we decided to use a photo that my partner had taken recently; a beautiful shot of the trees in the sunset. We made the image look brighter with a warming filter and by increasing the saturation. We then added the two inner circles and middle binder to make the inlay look effective and a full product design.

'the inlay'

Finally we needed an inside cover. Because the faces are obscured on the front cover we felt we needed a clear image of the entire band to give them a firm identity. After taking a few photos we selected our favourite. It was taken on an attractive wooden bench which sits infront of a multi-coloured wall which had been painted. We also used props such as the guitar and drum sticks to reitterate the group as a band, possibly interupting a rehearsal to take the shot. It was then the case of brightening the image followed by cropping the top to cut out the high windows. Finally we added text at the top of the cover to introduce the band on their debut album.

'inside cover'

The text reads:

"Autumn of the Jolly were formed in early 2010. Since then they have gone from strength to strength. This is their first album on sale in the UK and they have a tour planned for Summer 2012"

With all the parts now finished we had our work viewed by Brendan Way who gave us professional feedback. He advised that we added the other two band members to the front cover to avoid people viewing it as a solo album. There is more detail of this in my evaluation. We also added an album title which we intended to add after realising it was a major part missing from the cover.