Digipak updates.

So as of yet I haven't really talked about my digipak and this is for one simple reason - that we hadn't even begun to think about them until a month ago - so apologies on my behalf. However Sarah and I could recall discussing our ideas for our digipaks at the beginning of the year. Low and behold we found a list of mind boggling ideas in the back of her notebook and thus started on our journey to digipakdom.

These ideas all consisted of monster themes and characters as the name of our album is indeed 'Monsters' or was as recently, after having discussed with my teacher and a focus group, I have renamed my digipak 'Villains' so that I can go along the route of using a comic-strip theme. Sarah is sticking with the original name.

Later I shall post an image or slideshow depicting what I wish to do for my digipak and how I hope it will end up looking. Until then I shall give you a list of things that I will be requiring for the photography I intend to use:

1. Superhero costumes: Superwoman, Wonder Woman and Bat Girl. 
2. Three young gents to portray the villains
3. Three capes because capes are fab
4. Domestic settings

Learning about photoshop.

On Tuesday and Thursday of this week we have been, after months of saying that we'll get on with designing our Digipaks, learning how to use Photoshop. With help of Mr Nichola (our teacher who graciously took a photoshop course during his Christmas holidays.) we have now created mini masterpieces. Mine particularly masterful is the picture of a puppy running on pink diamonds. Then Sir took over and decided to make my puppies multi-coloured and shadowy and all sorts of effects that I have yet to grasp. However I am quite pleased with how well things have gone.

A rough edit of the first draft of Dirty Heart.

What you are currently seeing is a rough edit of some of the test shots we did over half term. Obviously we have quite a few kinks to work out of it but in the mean time we are quite pleased with what we have done. Yesterday (I shall dedicate a seperate post in regards to this so that I can fully explain what went on) we all got together to refilm for what we hope will be our final draft of the scenes between Ben and I and Ben and Sarah. Here are some of the issues we need to address:

• Cinematography - Although for the most part we were happy with what we had achieved with the cinematography in our first draft Sarah and I both agreed that we wanted to expand on our variation of shots and angles. While watching it over i've realised that a majority of the shots we've used consist of close ups and two shots but in order for us to get top marks this year we need to push the boundaries and use a wider range so one of the first things we'll be aiming to change from our first draft to our second is to use more shot types.
• The empty, black spaces in between shots - In our defence we had intended for them to be filled with performance shots that we were going to film in the hall however despite the fact that we had booked our school hall weeks in advance we were kicked out of there by a member of the P.E staff who will remain unnamed because his year 7 class was more important that our coursework. But be rest assured that there will be no black spaces in our final draft.
• Our shaky camera work - I would say that it isn't that noticeable but it is clear to you and I that it is very noticeable. During the first scene with Livvy and Ben, Sarah had to film while walking backwards and therefore she was quite nervous about falling over and kept turning to check if she was okay. Unfortunately this meant that every time she turned the camera would jerk. Thankfully we have worked out a resolution to this problem whilst filming our second draft. We will continue using the tracking shot but so that Sarah feels more at ease I shall walk behind her, steadying her and the camera.
• Length of the shots - Admittedly some of the shots do drag on and so we are planning on indispersing each scene with the same shot from various angles to keep the audience interested. This would also be helpful in regards to sticking with the conventions of pop music videos as they tend to use rapid cuts between different shots of the same scene (if the music video includes narrative) to go with the beat of the song.
• The phone section - The phone scene doesn't quite work as not everyone is miming in time and we all start at different points in the song hence the reason we shall be refilming it for our second draft.

Any other comments of constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated in the comments below as i'm not sure I have addressed all of them.

What is the purpose of music videos? Part 1 of my blog work.

The representation of women in Pop.

The representation of woman in Pop. on Prezi

Logistics of our production!

Logistics! on Prezi

Props list or mise-en-scene list.

This will be a list of some of the features in our music video including costume, lighting, setting, location and prop. I shall convert this into a prezi as soon as I get in.

Costume
Although we have as of far left the costume down to the actors when we do our actual music video we intend to plan what they're wearing. Currently the actors are seen in casual clothing that they have chosen themselves for the purposes of our draft.

• Livvy is seen wearing pair of wintery leggings, a t-shirt that is unseen, a black coat, a wooly hat and a pair of boots. This is during the first scene where Livvy and Ben are walking down a street. In the performance sequence she is wearing a red and white dress with tights and black heels. This is because in most pop music videos the performance element is usually the part where the band make an effort to look 'famous' or out of the average whereas they strive to look average in order for the narrative to make sense.
• Sarah's first scene costume consists of a white, printed t-shirt of Johnny Depp topless (bow chicka wow wow), a pair of high waisted shorts and tights. She is not wearing shoes as she is shown indoors. She would be comfortable in her own home and therefore we made her dress as such. In the performance sequence Sarah is seen LOOKIN' FINE AS ALWAYS 'After all this time?' 'Always' wearing a pink, one shouldered dress. Underneath she is wearing a pair of tights and black heels. THEY'RE BLACKER THAN BEN'S HEART. 
• Hannah, that is me, I am during my first scene wearing a purple top, black and white cardigan, black and pink aztec skirt and a pair of black tights. We all are wearing one item of black which is symbolic to the way that Ben's black heart is tainting us. In our performance scene I am wearing a purple dress with printed gold birds on it, I am also wearing tights and heels.
• Jess (though only viewed once but is still pretty fine) is wearing a black coat, tights and shorts and a grey top. 
• Ben changes clothes quite often throughout the music video. In his scenes with Livvy and me (as they are on the same day), Ben is seen wearing a blue plaid shirt, black jeans, jacket and bag (over the shoulder). He too tends to wear at least one item of black as he is the one with the black heart. When he is with Sarah, Ben is shown wearing a pink shirt with white circles and the same pair of jeans he wore the first day. He is not wearing black in this scene because his darkness is shown through movement however on the day of filming the actual draft I shall have Ben wear some item of black on him.

Lighting

• Mostly natural lighting as we had no need for aesthetic. A lot of the shots we filmed were located outside therefore there was no need for extra lighting. On the other hand my scene with Ben is set in the darkness because they are supposed to be watching a horror film but this may change depending on any developments we make later.

Location

• 1st scene: The location is a street directly adjacent to the Waltham Cross shopping centre.
• 2nd scene: The location the hall at school. We are on the stage singing.
• 3rd scene: The location is the garage conversion. In there is a sofa and television so it looks like a living room.
• 4th scene: The location is my actual living room but set as Sarah and Ben's living room.\
• 5th scene: As of yet unidentified. We have not filmed this bit yet.

Prop

• Ben's phone which Sarah picks up and finds out that Ben is cheating. The big reveal happens in the 3rd scene.
• My television remote for Ben to turn the horror film on. I don't see why he does that as it's supposed to be the scary bit. EH.
• Bacon Rashers to make Ben look more manly.