Thursday, January 30, 2025
Production: Behind the Scenes
Production: File Organisation
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Typography Research
Thursday, January 23, 2025
My Artist's Persona & Brand Id
This blog post will detail my group's decided persona we will reflect in our media products
Here are some questions provided by our teacher to help us constructively the identity of our star.
[Image]
Here are our group's ideas
Reflection:
Monday, January 20, 2025
Digipak: Research + Development
Research
Indie Pop Digipak Conventions
1. This Is How Tomorrow Moves by Beabadoobee
- Close up: This puts focus on the star's slightly fierce facial expression. Beabadoobee describes this album as being about "becoming a woman" and "accepting that there's an inevitably of my fault in there too" regarding her past. Perhaps this connects with the fierce expression, as though she is defending herself.
- Eye level: This makes the shot feel more personal and brings the viewer into her level, making them feel connected. This suits her album as the album presents themes that are personal to her.
- Bright blue background: Blue is often associated with sadness, however perhaps the vibrancy of the colour could symbolise the peace she's made with her faults (how her life has grown 'brighter'), aligning with the album's themes. Additionally, the vibrant colour conforms to the conventions of the pop genre which allows fans of the genre interested in her content through similarity.
- Expensive clothing (fur coat): Fur coats are typically associated with luxury as they are often an expensive piece of clothing. This could highlight her success as an artist; a physical representation of her growth.
- Beabadoobee often depicts herself as a strong woman yet sweet. She is shown making a fierce expression with elements that show her growth (coat, vibrant blue) being included. This reflects her persona as it shows her as a strong woman thriving to be a better person
- Beabadoobee does not have a logo however she keeps her content recognisable by including her name (or the letter B). Even if they're often in different fonts, her unique artist name becomes a branding opportunity as it stands out from other artist's names. In this digipak in particular, she includes her signature which makes her digipak feel more homemade and personal
- Our artist's album will be exploring similar themes so it is good for me to consider how these themes can be represented. I like the inclusion of items that can act as a symbol for growth and change so I want to include similar things in our digipak
- Additionally, this album cover has also made me consider the facial expressions our star could make on an album cover and what her expression would say about her including how she's grown from her past
2. Tell Me That It's Over by Wallows
- Low angle: The low angle approach makes the band appear more confident. This makes the overall image appear cooler, which is typical of boy bands.
- Long shot: The long shot leans into the cool image of the band by giving the viewer a full view of the members in confident poses. The long shot also makes the album cover feel more spacious therefore more casual and relaxed.
- Outdoor setting: An outdoor setting offers a natural and familiar vibe to the viewer. Posing them in a low-budget outdoorsy setting, rather than in a more luxurious one, allows audiences to feel more connected with the band
- Casual clothing: The band states that the common theme across the songs is generally relationships, perhaps the choice of casual clothing highlights how relationships are a common thing that happens to everyday people rather than something that happens only to specific kinds of people which makes the band more relatable to a general audience.
- Wallows often depict themselves by conforming to indie pop stereotypes. They use low budget productions and warm filters which remains consistent in this digipak thus helping them build a reputable brand identity
- Wallows does not have a logo, however they make each album recognisable while remaining unique by using different fonts (on the title and band name) for each album. This way, whenever the band releases content that relates to a certain album, fans can recognise which album it relates to by rcognising what style the album follows therefore maintaining consistent brand reputation
- I feel like the usage of fonts can help make an album cover appear more recognisable. I want to consider how different fonts can be used to convey meaning.
- I like the use of a border. I think it isolates the image and gives it more focus which may be able to create a more lasting impact on the audience. Additionally, different coloured borders could be used to emphasize different meanings. For example the Wallows album cover contains a pastel yellow border which could be correlating to their usually more energetic songs
3. Sling by Clairo
- Close-up: A close up effectively brings a viewer emotionally closer into a subject by providing with a perspective that highlights the expression of a subject. Here, it makes the shot feel more intimate as we see Clairo looking fondly at her dog, Joanie, who was a huge inspiration for this album.
- Slightly unfocused: Clairo states that this album is about domesticity. The slightly blurred shot makes the shot feel more candid and therefore more domestic
- Warm colour palette: The warm colour palette makes the scene appear more comforting as warmer tones are associated with emotional warmth which suits the album as it includes comforting themes.
- Natural scenery: The scenery depicts a natural winter. Paired with the warm colour palette, it creates a contrast of physical coldness and emotional warmth that may symbolise finding comfort despite hardships. Winter is also often a comforting time for a lot of people as it is associated with familial events such as Christmas and New Year's therefore making the shot feel nostalgic and cozy.
- Clairo heavily conforms to the indie pop genre. Most of her content uses a soft warm filter and slightly blurry camera lenses which give her content a homemade feel. This follows the theory of stardom as she presents herself as relatable to her audience which is consistent in this digipak. She also presents herself as soft and quiet which is apparent in how she often has album covers that appear more candid, such as in this one.
- Clairo does not have a logo, however she maintains consistent reconisability by using images of herself in her album covers (+ other content). Rather than just making her brand recognisable, this makes the star herself recognisable to fans too which is beneficial as it makes content including her more valuable to fans.
- I like how nostalgic and homey the cover feels. I feel like this would apply well to our star as her album focuses on her past. This makes me consider how we can use technical elements (such as camera and mise-en-scene) to effectively evoke a nostalgic feeling in our audience
- Clairo also includes a literal representation of the inspiration of her album (her dog) and depicts them in an intimate moment. This makes me consider how we could create an intimate album for our star and how we could depict her inspiration in the album cover if we decide to do so.
4. The Rise and Fall of a Midwestern Princess by Chappell Roan
- Eye level angle: The shot establishes a direct mode of address by using an eye level shot that brings the audience into the star's perspective and by having the subject directly stare into the camera. This makes her feel more serious and confident.
- Medium shot: The medium shot adds to the direct mode of address as it stimulates the distance people have when interacting with each other. This makes it more immersive for the audience.
- Highkey lighting: Highkey lighting puts focus on the artist. It makes the shot feel more theatrical. Chappell Roan describes this album as being about awakening so the the highkey lighting may connote how moments of realisation can feel like having a spotlight on you
- High budget: The star is shown using an fancy outfit in a luxurious set. This further emphasizes the theatrical feel while also maintaining audience attention on her through the shot's high quality
- Chappell Roan is an alternate persona created by the artist which means that she is deliberately acting as a different person as part of her stardom. This persona is unique as rather than being a reflection of the star herself, it is a character she is playing. The character is meant to represent the struggles the star experienced as a queer woman. Her persona is often portrayed as extravagant, authentic and vulnerable. The album cover reflects this through its high budget shot and highkey lighting which makes the star seem vulnerable yet maintain an air of confidence and style
- Chappell Roan has no logo but she keeps her content consistent using similar makeup styles and similarly theatrical outfits. This could be her unique selling point as her style makes her stand out from other artists. Not only does this make it easier for fans to recognise her and her content, but keeps them engaged.
- I like the more theatrical feel of this album cover which aligns more with the conventions of the pop genre (high budget) than the indie genre (low budget). Since our star is in the indie pop genre, it will be hard to balance both conventions. Chappell leaning more into the pop side allows me to consider whether this is realistic for us to do as students, which, in my opinion, is unrealistic as we have a very limited budget. However, we could keep a balance by keeping other conventions of the pop genre such as vibrant colours and highkey lighting which is more achievable.
- This is not really related to the album cover but I noticed the digipak contains a picture of the star with a signature. I feel like this would be interesting to add in out digipak as I think it would be a good way of including added value to our product as this would give fans another item included in the digipak, encouraging them to purchase it. The signature and exclusive picture adds a sense of personalisation that could fulfill the social relationships aspect of uses & gratification.
5. by Faye Webster
- Lots of blue:
6. Plum Blossoms by mxmtoon
- Seeked other sources to better understand artist persona and message (social media, interviews, genius)
- Some of the themes in the artists' albums are similar to ours (growth)
Development
Tuesday, January 14, 2025
Filming Schedule
This part of my blog outlines our filming schedule for November 2024 - January 2025
To be able to effectively plan our filming, we created a filming schedule to ensure clear communication between each other
Monday, January 13, 2025
Classwork: Multicam Editing
What is Multicam Editing?
Shooting
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My editing process
Final edited video:
- As my laptop was still broken, I had to use my phone to edit. This caused complications as even though I used the same program, the mobile version required me to purchase for features that would've been free on my laptop and I was just not used to using my phone for editing. This made me work a lot slower as I am basically relearning the features and I was unable to complete my work on time
- However, this experience has taught me how I can adapt in situations where I am not prepared in. Next time, I would restrict myself to doing the basics and focus on other features once I know that I've finished the base of my work.
Mini Music Video Practice Project
This post contains a mini project that helped us learn how to shoot a music video. We shot our verse as a group and then created this post together.
Our teacher gave each group a verse from the song “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles where we had to plan a scene which included various camera work and edits. The goal was to enhance our technical skills through practice and experience so that we have an idea on what we should be doing, learn from our mistakes and avoid making them in the future in order to create a better quality product for our component 3. In addition to that, doing this helps us learn more about each other’s skills and our team’s dynamics so that we can function better when we record our actual music video.
Pre Production:
Our instructions were to create a music video from the verses we were given. We were given 2 verses (both chorus below) and had to consider the instrumentals since we were told to film from the end of the last verse until the start of the next verse.
We started by creating a storyboard that allows us to communicate and outline our ideas
Storyboard scene 1
Description: The camera would push out from a crowd to a side-shot of the actor sitting down and lip syncing then cut to the front-view as they get up to walk away.
For this storyboard, I (Aurel) thought about a nostalgic approach. This was because, since we had no actual sun due to the rain, I wanted to figure out how I could still incorporate the meaning from the lyrics into what we were displaying as a music video. I thought that a metaphorical sun would work better. I choose to associate this with youth as they are often associated with brightness and cheerfulness much in the way that the sun usually is. Therefore I wanted to make it appear as though it were like the star was reminiscing over their youth. This was particularly advantageous too as we were shooting in a school which made it more easy to make the connection with youth.
Additionally, as this was the first verse, I wanted something that could act as an introduction to the music video and help easily transition into the next verses. I felt like my idea for the scene allowed for a lot of room for whatever could come next as it could look like the rest of the star’s youth days.
However, since we only had 10 minutes to work on 2 storyboards whereas other groups only had to work on one, I rushed mine and tried to get it done as soon as possible as I wanted to focus on communicating my vision. This resulted in my storyboard appearing less professional than I would have liked. I also now realise that perhaps I should have focused on the storyboard more as it would've helped communicate my idea better.
Storyboard scene 5
Description: Actor walking under canopy with a smile on her face, camera turns to reveal rain and irony between song lyrics to mise-en-scene.
Since we only had roughly 10 minutes to storyboard, our sketches were simple and we relied more on verbal communication to discuss our ideas on the acting, camera angle and movement.
Production:
During our production process, we started by shooting the 5th verse as it required the rain as well as less people despite the fact that in the beginning, we were supposed to shoot under sunny weather to correlate with the meaning of the song, the weather had other plans and started pouring. So, we decided to turn the rainy weather into an advantage by playing on that irony to result in a light humorous video, subverting from the song’s original meaning.
We filmed the 1st verse immediately after. For this verse, we gathered a few of our friends to act as background actors, talking and laughing, to create a natural and social atmosphere. This verse conforms to the meaning of the song about hope but later we unexpectedly found that this mise-en-scene made the star appear more isolated and less like the nostalgia approach we had hoped for. If we had the chance to reshoot the scene, we believe we could have overcome this issue by filming outside in the school field as the outdoors often connote freedom rather than isolation.
Post Production:
All the clips we had filmed were piled into a google drive for us to be able to watch through each one together and start the editing process.
Link: gdrive link
Jocy and Regine chose one chorus each and they edited the clips (Regine did the 1st verse and Jocy did the 5th). We noticed that the start of the song (the instrumental at the 1st verse) had to be filled in with a recording, however we did not do that and only filled the singing part of the chorus, so Regine filmed shots of our friends in class to fill in that gap. With the editing itself, we didn’t have much complications other than being in a time rush because we had to retake the shots for the 5th verse a few times, however it wasn’t that much of a problem either as we got the editing done in time and the only thing we had to do over the weekend as homework was this blog and reflection.
Video
https://drive.google.com/file/d/13nTta4QIHX4KrqJzOETsw4U12qkgvSoF/view?usp=drivesdk
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xTrsn6T9afKPWfPBn_x46zZLXMSYO6ZK/view?usp=drivesdk
Problems:
- For scene 5, there were several shots where the timing to which the background actor had to act their part was off. The runner would come on the screen too late from what we envisioned. This may be due to the large distance from the place that she had to start running from, to where she had to be (the spot which was in the frame of the video). Additionally, with the rain, we couldn't risk the runner to sprint because the area was slippery and she ran without shoes (to avoid getting them dirty)
- We didn’t manage our time to record both scenes efficiently. During recording scene 5, we spent way too much time there due to the retakes and thus had to quickly move on to scene 1 where we had only little time left to record. This led to a lot of rushing and possibly a lower quality of the end product.
- For scene 1, it was quite difficult to direct the large group of background actors. This is as we had to do a lot of coordinating in such little time including communicating the idea and what they had to do, as well as preparing their position in the frame.
Solutions:
- To solve the issue in scene 5 with the runner not being able to cross the screen in time, we decided to instruct the runner to begin at a closer distance. instead of running from one end to another, the runner would begin at a midpoint (pool locker room). Moreover, our teacher advised us to verbally send a signal to a runner than to use a hand gesture since the original audio wouldn't be heard anyways. We believe these two combined helped us get our intended shot for the final video by making the directing process much smoother
- To solve the issue of directing the background actors in scene 1, I (Regine) found that it was best to explain to the actors our intentions and plans so they can carry it out. Since we only needed them to talk to each other and act like friends, I explained what the idea was for the scene and they picked it up immediately. Everything went smoothly then.
- For scene 1, we also did a dual-shoot technique where two phones were used at the same time so the scenes were the exact same during editing.
- We completely forgot to film parts to fill out the instrumental section for scene 1 so I (Regine) quickly went out to film establishing shots of the area (school building, classmates, etc)
Next time
Our main struggle was managing the time to record both scene 1 and scene 5 within the given period of time. Thus next time, in the case where we have limited time but more than 1 task to do, we should prepare a thorough plan and allocate the amount of time we need in advance. The planning should help smooth the process of directing the actors. We should keep track of the time using timers. In addition to that, if possible, we should divide the team members to work on different tasks simultaneously (directors, camera operator, music operator, etc). Therefore, we can more or less finish at the same time, attaining extra time in case there are needs to fix or redo certain parts.
Self-Reflection:
- This exercise was very helpful and helped us achieve our goals. Additionally, it helped me feel more confident and comfortable in the team
- I realised that taking time with my work is more important than I initially thought it was. I was too caught up in worrying about the time limit and communicating my ideas as fast as possible than the quality of my work
- My roles during production were simple as all I needed to do was play music in the background to keep our timing right along with a little of direction help. This helped me understand what was needed to assist with my team
- I focused on creating the blogpost with Cheryl during pre-production while my teammates edited to save time. Throughout, I checked on my other teammates' work to ensure that we were on track. This helped me understand how to function with limited time
Screen Test: Audience Feedback
This post explains how we showed a rough draft of our music video, album cover, and social media page to some members of our target audienc...
