For Now...

So we finished the final set of filming and I will begin editing the music video very shortly, however for now we decided to do a little 'after session' to upload to the bands facebook, though this doesn't show perfectly the actual quality (Because of Facebooks rendering settings) this does give an idea of how the lights were used in the different video shots.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1016435038383494 < Find the video here :) enjoy.

Disc Cover Progress

We are filming the last of the video shots for the music promo video tonight, so I thought I'd have a draft at finishing the album cover, I will do a more final draft once I get home of how the casing will look (and I will use the bleed of the disc so everything looks more full.

Next I will be moving onto:

• Editing and Typographing the video.
• Creating a more full cover graphic for the disc cover
• Working with the band to create inner cd leaflets
• Designing a print to go onto the cd
• Developing posters to support the new band branding (including facebook banners and logo's)

Lyric Video Research

Since we already have the first set of filming from the live video I've been plotting out the lyric video as well as I can so that the motions are already there for when I piece and edit all the shots together.

I've been doing a bit more research of styles of Typography music videos to see what other styles I could develop into my video design, I've found along with Chunk! No, Captain Chunk's music video Taking Chances this video below which would allow me on the in house footage (soon to be completed) that I'd like to try and use to edit these effects in.

I love so many things about this video, the usage of inverted colours that are then even further inverted the colours on the shots of the characters. I feel that this is a feature I could implement.

Though there is no music video to accompany this lyric video; I really enjoyed the way in which the lyrics were presented spatially and font wise, I've been learning how to incorporate different effects to the text.

Filming Update.

I now have the footage from the first liveshow put into editing and as mentioned previously is the preview of the lyric video I started editing to try out techniques. The last set of filming has unfortunately been pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances. The new final date of filming is the 23rd of October, in which we will film 1 full live song rendition, then 4 versions (including different angles, lighting and areas) of the song being used for the promo video dub.

Digipak Design Progress

 After working on different sections of the packaging more I've settled with the band on some close to final designs, Now I only need to focus on things such as the bind (which will contain the product number, title, etc.) and the inside pocket display.

 As you can see I've added branding to the inside disc under section and the production companies logo has become more prominent along with titling for the album. Also there is a lot more contrast in each of the pieces.

Overall one thing I found strange between the digipak compared to a diamond jewel case is the fact that the diamond jewel case only supports square leaflets which then make up the cover. Where as the digipak actually uses a wider rectangle style image, this led to me having to change the style of my original images with the band to something that was fitting but also retained the original image structure.

Now all that is left after the packaging is to make a leaflet with the band for the inside of the digipak.

Digipak Research (2)

I've started to do more research into the physical production of digipak's in the style that I would like.

I found out that they style of Digipak I want to create for the band is known as a 'mooncut pocket' digipak. I've also managed to find a few more templates for being able to design the graphics in photoshop and for the leaflet designs.

For fun I decided to look into how much it would cost for a full band brand in physical production.

Somehow, for a media project, this might be an unreasonable price. But it still amused me, you can see more clearly the mooncut pocket design.

I will get to work on developing these products soon.

Lyric Video (Work In Progress)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWQw4cRW1sc

Here is a private unlisted video which shows the work in progress that I've made for a lyric video in Adobe After Effects. After a bit of research on youtube to confirm just how hard the work actually was going to end up being and learning a few techniques, I set to work.

About a minute worth of progress whilst also having a bit of experience in After Effects was the efforts of one night. I will finish this video to get my editing up to scratch for when the next set of footage is ready to be edited together.

Plans - Video Shooting.

The first set of fiming from Frame Of Mind's live set on the 11th of October 2014 has been recorded, the second set of recorded is to be completed, with two of the cameramen from the gig filming sessions, on the 13th of October and will follow a short story board concept which will be uploaded alongside work in progress footage.

There will be :
- Photo set from the live performance.
- a full video of the live set.
- a few clips of video from the live set.
...........................................................
- A photo set from the in house performance.
- two sets of video performance footage.
- three different angles for each song session (almost 6 sets of the same song.)

Then editing will begin shortly after.

Rebranding The Band - Digipak Panels, concepts.

The band when we all spoke decided that they would like to rebrand from their original 'electronica' esc  designs to a new logo and image. So we discussed a new photoshoot at a later date to continue into the tasks.



Final Design Ideas

This design is the final image for Frame Of Mind's small logo, this is developed with Facebook and social media in mind so that there is something simple to present. The letters are a clear and simple representation and when the band spoke about a 'renaissance' style presentation we found this was closest to the style.   

This is the 'close to final' design for the Windows EP cover for my digipak design. I'm going to take a set of photos of the same props and continue to work them into this design. However I feel that I've made a piece of art very personal to the band and we may keep it like this.

As a back cover design for the EP cover, though the track listing is uncertain we came up with this design. At some points we felt like the text was a tiny bit illegible but once we put all the pieces of the back design in context with the style of the front cover we felt really happy.      To continue their branding we decided to add the small version of the logo and the flares to give a more professional and 'produced' feel.

The major themes next will be to add the track titles, the production company images and production numbers to add authenticity, and to do a runner for the images (the side of the album cover).

Concepts

Here are some previous logo designs that we all sat down and discussed and decided against.

You can see clear progress from the small logo designs and front cover that went towards our final 'acoustic renaissance' take on artwork for the digipak.

Learning how : Kinetic Lyrics

At the moment because I'm looking to produce 'kinetic' lyrics to my music video that I'm working on. I've started looking into different tutorials and have found some really spot on ones with software that I'm already really familiar with.

Adobe After Effects has helped me to create numerous 'waveform audio' music videos to support my solo electronic music on youtube, so I think using it will be a blast. Though very time consuming, the results are close to perfection once done so overall I think I will be happy to do this supporting our video.

here's one tutorial I found really helpful
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcj6EFCwPkE

And the reference video that I found for Video/Typography crossovers.

Roles, Filming - Dates, Props, Etc.

Now that I have set up with two friends how we're going to go about filming the first set of video shots for the Frame Of Mind music video.
We will have alltogether three cameras, one camera is working with video from stage, one from the front bottom of stage to take off stage shots, and the last camera will be to take photos that will be developed throughout the video.

The first date for filming is the 11th of October,
The second date for filming is the 13th of October,
and the last date is to be decided between 16th and the 20th of October.

Out of all these shots (which will be posted on the main production blog) I will then be able to decide what things need filming again... We will most definitely over film so that we have more footage that can be used in place of other shots.

Props wise we don't need much apart from the obvious instruments.
However we will need to think about lighting for the indoor video shoot.
There will be about 5 sets of lights needed, 2 spotlights, 1 set of twinkle christmas lights, 1 led tube, and  then one coloured tube light. The placement of these will be decided on the filming date. They will be used to highlight the instruments.

Filming - Andrew Houghton, Jonathon Vernon, Max Collins.
Performers - Jason Smith, Connor Murphy, Sean Plimley (Frame Of Mind)
Photography (extra shots) - Jason Smith, Jonathon Vernon
Graphics - Jason Smith
Editing - Jason Smith
Director (for indoor shoot) - Jason Smith, Andrew Houghton, Jonathon Vernon.

Paragon Productions Blog

I have started an official blog which will now contain all the work for my production company, it can be found here - http://paragonproductionmedia.blogspot.co.uk/

DigiPak Planning

 In terms of planning I thought I would go ahead and along with the video ideas list a few bits in terms of design planning. I've been really into the digipak style at the moment and am trying my best to look into hybrid designs that can allow me to get the best out of the product.

Though I can't use the 'Diamond Jewel' cases I do think that it'd be nice to look into the designs that often go into the sleeves that they are contained in.

The examples here are from Crown The Empire, Time Traveller and Issues. Every single example has a logo, and the album name, and some form of symbol to attach to the artist.




Time Traveller - Morla And The Red Balloon I thought was a nice example of how characters and general 'traditional' artwork can be nicer thatn digital graphics.

 

 I thought one thing that was nice about the two designs below that you can see is that Issues doesn't have the album name, just a Shape and the band Name. But because of the plain black design of the sleeve the chalkboard design works so well in my opinion.

Along with the Haywyre design that you'll see later on, this is another nice example that shows simple photos to go with the albums. But I also loved the CD design that was printed on, I'd be able to produce something of similar essence.

Though we're not able to do the 'Diamond Jewel' case, however I wanted to provide some cool simple ideas of album artwork. Since I want to rebrand the band along with this EP digipak I want to work on a new logo, a new graphic would be nice. So I'm considering doing some photography to work into the background and then take some similar art style of the album cover below.

The main reason I got this is just because of the style of effects it uses are quite close to the designs I like producing. I may upload some graphic work soon after I take photos to work with.

Haywyre's Digipak is quite similar to how I would like to produce the product. So that I could produce a small booklet and the four panels including a CD graphic that fits with the album cover.

Video Ideas & Plans and Inspiration

In terms of overall feel of the video I have several references that I can use to show what the final design of my video will look like. Though I'd rather show it than explain the design, I know that I have to explain my theory ideas.

So I've provided a list of videos underneath and next to each of them explained to what extent I will be pastiching the work.

Hands Like Houses - Release 

From this acoustic video that Hands Like Houses produced I will be adapting most of my ideas for the later filming stages. This being a properly set video in a small room that is only lit by L.E.D lights in the dark and the only light for the cameras will be on set, no post effects. I think this will make for an interesting set piece to flow in and out of my video.

Hands like Houses - Revive (Introduced Species)

This Hands Like Houses video is to show how little I actually want to do with the video, I'm thinking of adapting the widescreen style between fades for our Room video and then designing the live video to be full fitted, this will keep the viewer interested while watching.

Chunk! No Captain Chunk - Taking Chances

Though the Chunk! No Captain Chunk video doesn't have very many 'attributed' techniques that I can use in filming for my bands video I really appreciate the idea of having typography lyrics that help a listener to become more entertained with the video, having a mixture of this in chorus and live shots with more personal intimate room shots will create a huge contrast to a regular 'story' based video.

Linkin Park - Until It's Gone (Lyrics Video)

The same to be said for this Linkin park video, I just wanted to provide an example that could fit to story if I do decide to add more shots on top of our Live and Room filming, how they could fit in context with typography.

Ben Howard - Keep Your Head Up (Shikari Sound System Cover)

Overall this Shikari Sound System Radio 1 live lounge video is just to show the sheer effect that simple shots and lighting can have on an audience to watch performers from such an intimate distance.

Film Planning - Filming set 1

This weekend the band that I'm going to be creating the promo video for are playing a show (my band) and we've set up and arranged for two cameramen to come down and help us do the first set of filming this weekend.

Overall when talking to the two cameramen (wanting to film it myself even though I'm performing) we decided on having two cameras, one from side stage and one from front of stage allowing us to develop some nicer shots that are suitable to fit in with the context of the rest of the filming we'll do.

We're choosing to take 'unplanned' photos and videos from our phone cameras, since they're ridiculously good quality cameras, we can take some things that will fit in with the context of the end of the video and to be placed alongside the typography that I have planned for the video.

The gig date is Saturday the 11th of October.
The band is Frame Of Mind, and the song we're filming is Windows, though we may continue filming into other songs from the set...

We're trying our best to perform with a bit of crowd interaction so that we can finish the video with the original volume from the live footage.

The next set of filming will be decided on a later date, but the plans for the next video shoot are already planned.

Paragon Productions

For my media task, though a large workload I have decided that it would benefit me more, I will be working by myself under a production company that follows a few of my already branded names.

ParagonProductions. My first line of work will be to create a logo and get some plans laid out.
I will be able to start filming within the next weekend with help from some friends and then the next work can be simple filming shots even from phone cameras from the whole band of friends.

I will be taking on the following task-

Task 1 'A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the band.
• A digipak for the album's release.
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak.

I think overall I will perform well in this task because it's not a case of 'doing it all by myself' it's a case of co-coordinating myself and my time management to fit the task appropriately.

So what better way to start off then with a production company logo image set.

 I tend to use photoshop an excessive amount so editing images for videos and work for the Digipak and other advertising articles should be smooth. I really liked this design which I can then easily turn into a landscape design and single layers for a music video introduction. Also I thought it really captured the idea that I like basic simplistic schemes with obvious flares.

I thought just so that people weren't confused with the logo, though I may make a full black & white render, I should make a render focusing fully on my logo for the brand.

Start as we mean to go on I hope.

The Media Briefs (Conclusion)

I think in my personal opinion overall I'd choose to go with Task 1 : A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options :

• A website homepage for the band.
• A digipak for the album's release.
• A magazine advertisement for the digipak.

The main reason for why I've chosen this task as my personal favourite is because thinking in a retrospective method I wouldn't actually have to work in a group to complete any of the tasks stated above. So if anybody isn't pulling their weight (when we do start to work in groups) I will be able to just finish the tasks that are already given.

I have had previous influence and experience working with internet design (Webpage building) create visual art for album work (Graphic Design) and my last year of AS was spent working inside the field of magazine design so the advertisement shouldn't feel to far out of my comfort zone.

Also since I'm a huge music fan and create my own music recordings with two bands and my own solo  electronic music, making music fit for purpose would be just as easy (if not using already recorded tracks).

Also I think this will be the easiest to develop smart and fun ideas for out of all the different tasks.

The Media Briefs (Part III)

Task 5 - A promotion package for a new computer/video game, to include two TV advertisements, together with two of the following three options:

• The cover of the game's package.
• Two hyperlinked pages from the game's website.
• A magazine advertisement for the game.

This was the last task out of the set of briefs we were given that I chose to research due to personal ideas, however as a group task and a small media programme I can already see the pitfalls of the task, so this research is purely for personal gain.

Halo Reach is a prime example of a promotion package for a video came that has been fully advertised in so many different ways that it becomes a task just to see which promotion works the best

 
Having work from a media perspective on the game side of things would mean creative a visually interesting cover and for us as a media team, create something that is interesting to an audience out of nothing more than post FX and live action trailers.

The main reason I enjoy things like this is because it shows just how far we've actually come in terms of actual real life props and FX that we're able to create such accurate real life representations of a video game world. So this trailer made a huge impact on me when I first saw it.

Overall though there is unfortunately not a good portfolio that we could develop from this work method  in the task.

The Media Briefs (Part II)

Task 2 : A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options.

• A website homepage for the film
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• A poster for the film.

I found this task interesting because I felt that there some amazing examples that we could follow in terms of the task, making reference to both my inspirational film trailer designs as well as stuff that is easily presentable and made by us as a group.

I mainly like the transitions from this trailer and though the CGI is blatantly a mile off unachievable without twelve more hours of work per minute I still think that the positioning of each scene in this trailer to create awe and interest is exceedingly useful for if we were to pursue this task.

The poster, once again a CGI influenced poster, is quite obvious in it's presentation that it will be an apocolyptic, sci-fi, and action movie. I like the fact that the poster presents the main elements of the film very central and that the genre of the film is so noticeable and may even become interesting to people who are not fans of the genre because of the way the poster is designed. 

Closer to home though I think there are some obvious film trailers that we would be able to develop for it, other trailers are very easy to produce such as the trailer for Divergent. This is because apart from large scale actor scenes, there is only two person shots, mostly close ups, that are the main focus of trailer.

This is handy because it shows the film very well through the actors and the audience can get a feel for the actors.

The Media Briefs (Part I)

Going through each of the A2 Media briefs did kind of puzzle me at first purely because there were so many tasks that were achievable for myself or as a group. However to keep the work more personal to myself for now I've chosen to talk about the two tasks in a bit of detail.

I'm going to provide some research to support my visions for how I'd like to sort perform the tasks.

Task 1 'A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for the band.
• A digipak for the album's release.
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak.'

The reason I find this task quite suitable for me is that there are several parts of the task that I can complete quite quickly with a good flare of my own to give to the products.

I think an overall advantage is that I could provide original music content to the music promo video and I could easily alter the music (and re-record) for the fitting of the video if necessary. So music video will be an easy feet along with working with simple ideas like cut-shots. The ability to record high definition on our phones now means that we can capture amazing shots that can easily fit in with the context of actual camera shots.

For reference to music video styles that I would like to design my video similar to.

Reference one : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWnEx1HQCss

Reference two : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr6dBz_8EYs

Reference three : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rch4cbV0yK8

There's specific reasons for the reference to each of these videos. The first video shows just how much can be done with plain video editing, different styles of shots (like pans and wide shots). Simple vlog designed shots of people performing as a band fit in very well with the design criteria.
The second video that I've chosen shows just how much can be done with simple phone cameras because of the quality we can now get from them. I also adore the fact that they've used the lyric functionality to create a nice well edited video that is entertaining for a viewer the whole way through.
And the last video that I've chosen is purely for me to show what can be done with simple lighting effects (before the post editing) because of single flood lights and L.E.Ds for stage work.

Also I've almost always adored the digipak since it became a regular form of production for music outlets, there are so many examples that I own and would be able to base my own work upon that it would seem strange to not try my hand at designing something similar to this.

One of my favourite examples of a well designed CD digipak is Haywyre's TwoFold : Pt I.