Inspiration

Under water photography concepts:

 

 

 

• They give the impression of isolation
• The people are presented as dream like and sincere
• Feminine
• Connotations of drowning - claustrophobia, not being able to breath (which is how we aimed to present Ellie in our video; as it's an unusual concept for a video so would attract indie-pop fans)
• The dresses in the water spread out and enlarge the focus upon the character, therefore other aspects aren't needed in the images
  

Planning the digipack

The images show my initial ideas behind the digipack, I'm planning on having a shot of the girl under water on the front and back of the cover. Whereas inside, in order to create an interesting visual around the CD I will probably use the black and white collage of images. These images are of different locations, people, scenarios which put together seems quite intact with the music video. (A lot of the shots are outside, of young people, the double exposures seem distorted and dream-like; the kind of impression we aimed for.)
I like the girl under the water in black and white because it is so simplistic, which I believe always look most effective. For example Adele's 21 album cover is a black and white close up image of her; which implies she does not need amazing graphics in order to sell herself, the audience she aims for will buy the album due to her recognisable good voice and the music she produces. Especially for Indie fans, slightly kooky, creative album designs appeal to the target audience since they are looking for something original and different to listen to.

Shot List

BEGIN WITH ON FIRST DAY AT 4PM:

LOUNGE AREA
Fire part
Side CU of Ellie
ECU of Ellie's eye
Side mid shot of Ellie
Behind mid shot of Ellie
CU of fire
Mid shot of fire

Lighting shots
Long shots of Ellie x 20 (as difficult shot to get perfect)
CU of Ellie incase any long shots go slightly out of sync

Yelling scene with father
Multiple low angles of father yelling
Mid shot "    "
CU of father yelling

OUTSIDE
Running/lost shots
CU of Ellie looking into the camera
CU of Ellie glancing at her surroundings
Mid shot of Ellie running
Mid shot of Ellie skipping
Mid shot of Ellie walking
CU of Ellie against a tree/bush that would fit anywhere in the narrative

SECOND DAY AT 2PM:

Spinning shots
Long shot of surroundings spinning
Long shot of Ellie spinning
Mid shot of Ellie's shaddow
Long shot of landscape over hill
Pan shot of landscape
CU of nature eg grass/thorns in the wind
Long shot of Ellie walking

FINAL DAY OF SHOOTING AT 10AM:

KITCHEN
Arguement shots
Long shot of Ellie & mum character together
Long shot of mum character yelling
Long shot of mum character talking and Ellie ignoring her
CU of Ellie turning
CU of Ellie looking into the camera
CU of Ellie reacting to getting yelled at by the father
CU of the mum's character reacting
Long shot of the mum standing up and yelling back
Long shot of the mum yelling and Ellie running out
Long shot of Ellie no longer there

Shots of Ellie & dogs
CU of singular dog
CU of both dogs
Mid shot of Ellie holding a dog
CU of Ellie and dog
Low angle of dog

HALLWAY
Running
CU of Ellie's feet
CU of Ellie's expression
Mid shot of Ellie running
Long shot of Ellie running
Long shot of Ellie opening the door
Long shot of Ellie running out
Mid shot of Ellie running out

Research album covers in the same genre

Imagine Dragon's CD cover features a nature-based location setting, as mine does with the use of the water element. The floating man gives the cover a classic indie-pop unique twist. As he is isolated and alone in this environment he is presented as lost perhaps, which implies to whomever is looking at the CD cover that the band will have enriched lyrics as they understand what it is to be lost or isolated. The prospect of the floating man also confirms their music will have a kooky aspect to it, a unique sound which indie-pop fans are always looking for. The purple tint to the cover, mixed with the mist in the background presents the band as quite mellow, probably easy to listen to. The tint also gives the cover a dream-like impression, therefore it's presented as accessable and soothing.

The thick set of leaves covering the floor and the grand trees filling the background also emphasises the indie-pop genre, since it suggests the band are intuitively in touch with nature. As an indie-pop audience look for creativity and unique music, the whole concept of this album cover would appeal to that audience. The band name in capital letters creates the impression that they are important and making their mark on the world. It also puts emphasis on their band name 'imagine dragons' which has connotations of it's own - imagine listening to magic and fantasy and that is what this album is like. The unusual font - certain letterings being presented backwards or at an angle emphasise a 'V' shape in the middle of the cover. This is emphasized by the trees parting - it draws the audiences eye to the person in the middle.

The Foals 'Antidotes' CD cover is likewise creative and unique. The use of having a drawing to promote the band promotes them as all-around appreciators of art. Therefore their creativity is very important to them. The man's mouth is full of different colours and shapes, he is otherwise quite bland and colourless. Perhaps suggesting that the band use their lyrics and music to bring colour and brightness to an otherwise dull industry/world. It also implies that the band have something important that they want to say since these colours are spilling out of the man's mouth. This would appeal to our/their audience as indie-pop fans often like thought-provoking, unique music. The font also seems hand-drawn, which again suggests creativity and shows care has been taken. The band name being so close in proximity to the album name implies that the band are very close to their music; and their album means just as much to them as making a name for themself.

Tom Odell's CD cover uses the same greyscale effect that our music video (and digipack) used. The grainy effect on the photography presents him as a gritty artist. The leaning-against-the-wall pose presents the artist himself as very relaxed and colected, yet the cover as a whole is very stylistic. The open doorway possesses many connotations such as he is beginning his journey into his music, or this album has opened a door for him as an artist and person to express the things he wants to. His serious facial expression, looking down away from the camera also implies that his music is meaningful and personal. The basic capitalised bold print at the top of the album presents the artist as undesigned and candid - a simple straightforward man who is undisguised, which implies that he and his music are honest and open to the audience.

His gaze looking down away from the camera represents him and his brand as understated and "normal" rather than posed and commercial. This suggests that Tom cares more for his music than for commercial values, which would appeal to the Indie-Pop target audience. Since commercial mainstream music often follows the same tones and representations etc, whereas Indie-Pop fans look for something unique and original in their music taste

Reflection

Having completed our edit of the music video, we proceeded to screen the video to a group of students in order to recieve constructive criticism.
One student explained that he did not enjoy the black and white, he preferred the colour edit as he believed it was more versitle. Despite the fact that our preferrance was greyscale, we changed the lighting and contrast on less interesting visual shots in order to visually appeal more to the audience.
During the editing process, we strayed away from the original editing plan when watching Lady Gaga's music video for 'Judas' which heavily influenced us. The smooth dip to blacks alongside the drum beat, we found very effective for her video therefore decided to incorporate it. She also used black and white in this section of her video, it appealed to our target audience since it is unique and focus' on visiual stimuli's like many indie-pop genre music videos.

The group's favourite shot was that of the lights flashing at the same time. This may of been because the extremity of the black and white contrast at the beginning is the boldest contrast we use in the video. It may also be because we used one of these shots to open the music video alongside the drum beat, therefore it is the audience's first impression of the characters/mise-en-scene/video as a whole. The young girl is in the middle of the shot, staring directly at the camera suggesting to the audience that this is a unique video as the audience are watching through a window of her life. This would appeal to our target audience since indie-pop fans usually like to see creative, thought-provoking concepts within videos - more than purely entertaining videos. However whilst editing it was difficult to get the lights to turn off at the exact same time as the drum beat as it was completely obvious if it was not in time.

Personally one of my favourite shots/transitions is when Ellie's character pushes the camera away from her and then when her hand is taken away, the camera and her character is in a different location. I think it's firstly because it's as if she's had enough of the audience learning about her life and she's fed up, needing to be alone. Yet she takes her hand away far more softly, emphasising her lonliness and how in fact she is grateful of any company. For a moment in the fast-pace, fast-edit of the music video it slows the pace down for a second. It also acts as a smooth transition from one part of the narrative to the next, which just overall makes the music video flow suitably and makes it easy to watch.

Most successful shots:

• The flashing lights
• The outside shots (natural bright lighting and black and white works well)
• The hand on camera transition
• The opening sequence, cut to the beat

Problems we had:

• Extreme weather
• The barking dog shot
• Cutting quickly and keeping an interesting narrative
• Keeping the fire at the same size, always reflecting the same light on Ellie

How we dealt with this:

• We used the blustery weather and captured it as a reflection of the girl's state of mind
• We protected the camera with umbrellas
• We changed the concept to having the dog looking at the camera sadly, in a similar manner to the girl in order to create sympathy for both characters
• If we used a shot that was important to the narrative in the beginning sequence where it was the quickest edit, we'd reuse them later and edit them by rotating etc. in order for the shot not to seem repetitive and boring
• We repeated quickly shooting, then refuelling the fire; and trying to angle the character so we could sort the fire out without getting another person in the shot.

First ideas behind CD designs