Evaluation

Finished Website

Finished Website Link

To make our website look believable we added our own images, tour dates and our music video to give the website an authentic feel.

Home Page: Includes a latest news section

 Tour dates page displays upcoming gigs

 Media page includes the bands latest release, their debut album.

 In the about page there is a brief backstory of the band

 EPK page has contact details and legal details such as the record label

 Contact page has more contact details.

Final Digi-Pak design

This is our final Digi-Pak design.  Overall I am really happy with the outcome we have achieved. This design isn't entirely the same as the plan as we decided to change some elements. We stuck with the Logo on the front cover, this was one of the first decisions we made as we knew that we wanted the cover to include Bands logo as it is featured in the website and the music video. For the inside set of panels (top), I wanted to create an image like the one that I put on the plan, however due to some complications we weren't able to get hold of the lighting we needed. This resulted in having to scrap that composition and then trying something else. In the end I used the performance lights on the ceiling to isolate the band from the background. In the editing process I darkened the background even more and added a fade at the bottom of the frame to make it fade into the rest of the panel nicely. 

For the back panel I deviated from the plans slightly. Instead of having the microphone by itself I decided to use an image of Barney holding the mic looking straight down the camera. I liked this image as it makes it look like Barney is looking directly at the person looking at the Digi-Pak. I believe that this makes the Digi-Pak more personal and creates a connection between the audience and the band.

Lastly the plan for the spare panel was completely scrapped and was replaced with what you can see below (Bottom left). Taking inspiration from old Vinyl back covers I decided to add a section where the band gave their thanks to family, friends and industry people. Again I chose to do this because I believed it made the band appear to be humble and respectable.

Final Production

First Rough Draft Preview

Here is a first draft of our production. There are multiple issues that we have to fix yet but this is were we were at the time of uploading this. (Since then we have had another day of filming and have altered some of the clips)

Publicity images

At the end of Day 5 filming I shot some publicity images for our Digi-Pak and our website. I again stuck to the B&W his contrast theme that we have running across both.

Before and After:

Final Images:

Some other images from prior days filming:

Car Shoot

Yesterday we filmed some scenes in the car (mentioned earlier in the blog). Because of technical difficulties on the previous weekends we only got round to shooting these clips now. I believe that the shots we got were good and will fit in nicely with the rest of our production. Below is some screenshots and some edited stills that we got from the day.

Digi Pak rough draft

Using Photoshop I have created a first draft of what our digi pak may look like. Using images from google I laid out some images in the positions that I wanted them. For the inside panels (the top three on this image), I would like there to be a silhouetted image of the band like the one that I have taken from google for temporary use. As a group we have already decided that we want the front cover (bottom right) to remain as it is, with just the bands logo on it. For the back panel (bottom middle), We decided that we wanted to keep it minimalistic like the rest of the Digi-Pak. We will have the track listing down the left side of the panel and then have a still life image of (possibly) a microphone down the right to fill space.
Finally on the extra panel, we were going to try and create a still life image of some scrap pieces of paper that had lyrics written on them. My idea was to have elements of the bands rockstar lifestyle places within the image. We would place plectrums and other musical items in the frame, we would also have instruments protruding into the frame. The desk that the papers would sit on would be messy and cluttered. It would have a cigarette tray full of ash and finished cigarettes to symbolise the fact that the person who sits here is here very often and also to symbolise the Rock and Roll lifestyle.
There are still some things that we need to is to add all of the details and small print. This includes choosing a record label.

Filming Day 3

Today we went to film in the car to get our shots (refer to last post). However the car broke down before the cameras and started rolling. After consulting the rest of my group we decided that we should go up to London and get some shots rather than wasting a day. As this wasn't planned I had to make a plan of action up as we went along. We went straight to South Kensington as I believed that the streets of white houses would be an ideal backdrop for the clips as it played in to the sense of celebrity-like status and Success that we want to portray the lead singer having. We filmed Barney singing each verse and chorus in a different location to keep the footage looking fresh. I also shot some still images on a film camera to portray the sense of retro-ness (B&W) however they didn't develop so I got nothing. Luckily I had shot some images on a digital camera as well so they can be used on the website.

Some Screenshots from the days filming:

Prep for Sunday Shoot

On Sunday we plan to shoot some scenes in a 50's convertible car. We hadn't originally planned this but the opportunity rose to use the car so we took it. We want to shoot some clips of Barney (Our lead singer) singing the lyrics in a relaxed and laid back manor. We will record barney singing the whole song a few times trying different backdrops and trying different angles. This way we can ensure that we have a good selection of clips to choose from.

Here is a similar car to the one we will be using.

Call sheet for shoot 3

Digi-Pak Analysis

In this post I am going to analyse some Digi-Paks that I already own. Unfortunately I could not find any Digi-Paks that were made for a Rock band like our own so I will not be analysing the imagery and styling so much, I will be looking more at the layout.
Below is J Dilla's Donuts album. I wanted to look into this as this is probably the layout that is closest to what I want to do.

Front Cover: Simple, Title and artists name is clear. One large image covers the whole panel

Spare Panel: Minimal design, one small image in the bottom right, small print in top right

Inside panels: One graphic runs across all 3 panels

Back Panel: Similar to the spare panel, small image on the bottom left fills the empty space, whilst the track-list takes up the left side. Record label logo in top right.

I really like this Digi-Pak. Its minimal design with the theme of Donuts running throughout makes for a really consistent package.

Below is some more images of the rear covers of some Digi-Paks that I could use as inspiration. One thing I can immediately see from these examples is that the writing doesn't take up much space at all. The majority of the panel is filled up with imagery 

Filming Day 1 - Test Shot

Positives:
Lens flare is very appealing
High contrast looks good

Negatives:
Way too shaky
Barney looks nervous

Filming Day 1

On our first day of filming we practiced some shots that we could possibly use in our actual video. Due to the fact that the Attenborough Hall was in use we had to use the large drama studio. The shots we achieved were insightful and have helped us get an idea for how we could shoot it next time. During filming we only focused on Barney as in the actual thing we want to get a mix of band shots and solo shots of just Barney.

Below are some screenshots of the filming:

And some test still images:

Equipment

Borrowed instruments that we will use in our music video.
In the music department there are a few drum kits, however we chose this beaten up one as it fits with our grungy theme

Logo Design

This is our chosen logo design. From looking at other real life bands logos we wanted to stick to a minimalistic look. The logo is simple and straight to the point, it states the name of the band and is typed in an eye catching font. The font is rough. This resembles the style of music that our band plays, rough and bold rock tracks.

Lighting test

We shot these two clips below of the lighting in the hall

Animatic

Using sketches from our story board we have created a rough draft animatic that sets out our plans for our music video.

Casting

These casting members are our first choice actors, however we still need to take some test shots of them in their roles to see if they look believable.

Lead Singer: Barney                                                    Bass Guitar: Alan