Evaluation

This is my evaluation. Here is a link to it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uUlaqdej6M

Final - Music Video

This is my final music video. Here is a link to it on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86rF_-1WaNI

Final - Album Advert

Here is my final album advert as part of my ancillary tasks. I used urban and Banksy elements to influence my album advert. The advert features the same image as page three of my album advert, which shows the girl reaching out of the 'brick' curtains to reach for the balloon. I wanted the main image on the album advert to symbolise hope and freedom, which is the recurring message in the music video. The image perfectly represents the meaning of the song and how the girl who feels trapped by society is using hope to escape. I played around an manipulated an image on Adobe Photoshop and I managed to create 'brick' curtains using different effects that I had found. I chose to use this image rather than the image of the train tracks, that I previously used in an album advert design. I didn't think that the train tracks had as much relevance to the meaning of the song, as the image of the girl reaching out for the red balloon did. However, for my final album advert, I have used the recognisable Imagine Dragons font for their name and also, a bold, block font for the title of the album and the information about the album. The bold, bright white font stands out against the slightly darker backgrounds and is also eye catching to the target audience of Imagine Dragon's fans. I have included a small snapshot of the actual digipak front cover, so that  the target audience would be able to easily associate the album advert with the album case.

Final - Digipak

Here are the final pages of my digipak that I have created for the first part of the ancillary task.

Front Cover (Page 1) - This is the front cover of the digipak, portraying the main meaning behind the music video of the girl finding hope. I have used a similar font as Imagine Dragons use on their own album for their name, as it stands out and is easily recognisable to their target audience. I used a block font for the title of the album and made it bold to stand out. I chose the colour white as it is bright and bold against the dark colour of the wall.

Inside Cover (Page 2) - This page shows the negative connotations of the 'NO PARKING' sign and how the girl is using the balloon to try and escape from the destroyed society. I changed the 'O' to red to show how hope (the balloon) is breaking down the barriers of despair and is introducing a new hope.

Inside Cover (Page 3) - This page shows the girl reaching out of the 'brick' curtains to reach for the balloon, which symbolises hope and freedom. The wall represents her being trapped and a lack of freedom, which she is trying to escape from.

 

Inside Cover (Page 4) - This page again has negative words painted onto the wall. This is to present the strong force, which is acting against the girl and trying to make her give up. I have placed a slightly translucent grey box over the image, with bold, white writing over the top. The information includes important recognition of the people who were involved in making the album.

Inside Cover (Page 5) - This page features an image of a wall with graffiti on it, which is seen in the music video that I have made for the song, 'Radioactive'. The wall gives an urban feel to the digipak, with the Banksy inspiration evident. Similarly to the previous page, a translucent grey box has been placed over the image, with bold, white writing over the top. The information includes special thanks to major contributors in the making of the album and also all of the copyright information, which is situated at the bottom.

Back Cover (Page 6) - The back cover of the digipak again features the bold, white name of the band and the album. This is instantly eye catching and recognisable to the target audience.The track list of the album is then listed below in chronological order of the songs on the CD. At the bottom of the page, Imagine Dragons's own website address is situated, allowing fans to check out their website. The image of a traffic light again has negative connotations and similarly to page 2, the balloon represents an effort in trying to get away from the destroyed society.

This is the final digipak that I have put together, complete with a customised spine for the digipak case.

Symbolism of Red Balloons

In preparation for my evaluation, I decided to look at the symbolism of red balloons and what they mean in different circumstances and situations. For my music video, I looked at constructing a symbol of hope and freedom for the girl to hold. I chose a red balloon as my symbol. Through looking at the symbolism of red balloons and what they mean to society, I found that they tend to represent childhood innocence. It tends to symbolise freedom and letting go of the bad in return for letting in a positive atmosphere. Also, the colour red is usually seen in dream interpretation as either a warning sign, or a representation of passion and strong feelings. In my case, I interpreted it as a positive symbol of hope and freedom. This is also represented in other media forms, such as the 34 minute short film, which follows the adventures of a young boy who one day finds a sentient, mute, red balloon. The Red Balloon (French: Le Ballon rouge) is a 1956 fantasy featurette directed by French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse. In the short film, the balloon appears to represent an innocent essence of childhood wonders, which is destroyed because others do not understand the balloon’s significance to the boy. Fortunately, other red balloons, which could represent other childhood wonders of fantasy, take the place of the broken one at the end.

Photoshop Practice - Brick Curtains

For my ancillary tasks, I used Adobe Photoshop in order to create interesting and meaningful images. I looked at different effects that I could add to each of the images, including ‘poster edges’, ‘smudge stick’ and ‘dark strokes’. However, I used ‘poster edges’ as I felt that it had the most surreal effect and would link in well with the surreal music video. For one of the inside pages of the digipak and also the album advertisement, I used Photoshop to create an effect where a brick wall became some curtains, that the young girl was peering through. I edited this heavily in order to an effect where it looked as though the young girl was emerging from nowhere. The black and white curtains contrast well to the brightness of the red balloon, portraying a bleak society, in which the girl is emerging from.


Here is a video showing me editing my original image and creating the 'brick' curtains on Adobe Photoshop. It shows the different stages that I went through, in order to create the desired effect, portraying the young girl reaching for the red balloon through the 'brick' curtains.

Ancillary Tasks

As part of my coursework, I had to create a digipak and an album advert for my ancillary tasks. Initially, I created six pages for the digipak. I looked at how to incorporate the message of the song and the music video and convey this across to my target audience. Whilst, I was happy with the first three pages of my digipak and also my album advert, I was still unsure of my last three pages of my digipak. Originally, they looked like this...

However, due to issues with the slightly harsh appearance of the text boxes and also the incorrect placing of text on the pages, I decided to change them slightly to match my expectations of the overall digipak. I changed the placing of the text on page 4 as I had originally put the Imagine Dragons band names below the other names. I therefore corrected this, by placing them in order of importance. I also separated up the text boxes, so that the writing was still visible but the lines of the text boxes didn't look so harsh. On page 5, I wanted more of the actual graffiti wall visible. Therefore, i shifted all of the information down onto the pavement and made the text smaller, so that the main part of the image was clear and eye catching. I also moved the copyright information from page 5 onto the back page and I added in the Interscope Logo. This is more conventional and can be seen across most professional digipaks. I also inserted a bar code at the bottom right hand side of the back page, creating a professional finish. Overall, I am now happier with the appearance of the edited digipak pages.

Also, after a discussion with my teacher about where CD discs are inserted in digipaks, I decided to do some research about whether or not a CD disc can be inserted into the middle column of a cardboard digipak. I found that there are many different digipaks that do have a plastic CD tray for a cardboard digipak case, which fits in well with my preferred and chosen style of digipak. Digipaks typically consist of a gate fold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outer binding. But the examples of digipaks below, prove that gate fold style digipaks can contain one or more plastic trays, capable of holding a CD attached to the inside.

Editing the Music Video

I am now editing my music video and matching all of the shots together, in order to create the final music video. I am using IMovie to edit by placing the shots in the correct order and cutting them down to fit in with the beats of the music. Before I started editing, I created an animatic using images from my storyboard, to determine how long each of the shots should be and where I should place them in relation to the music. I am currently making sure that the shots match the pace of the song and also the meaning and message of the actual song.

Final Day of Filming

I filmed my last shots today, which included the final shots of the actual music video. I went up onto a field, which was suitable for the silhouetted style shots that I wanted to create. I filmed a sequence of shots, with the young girl running up the hill, turning round to wave at the characters from earlier on in the music video, and then turning back to release the red balloon. Similarly to 30 Seconds to Mars' music video 'A Beautiful Lie', I wanted to create a silhouetted image as the final shot of the video. I managed to shoot against the darkened sky, a clear shot of the girl releasing the balloon into the sky and standing in a freed and hopeful pose. As I have now finished filming, I will begin to edit the music video together, in order to create the final music video.

Another Day of Filming

I filmed some more shots using my house as the location. I filmed the shots of the failed business man eating a roast dinner and also I re shot the scenes of the boy without his top on, drinking beer. I chose to use a room inside my house for these scenes as I was able to control the lighting more easily and overall the shots were clearer. For the shots of the failed business man, I had to acquire a range of props, including a plate, cutlery, roast dinner, wine glass, napkin etc... I chose a posh business suit for him to wear, which I believe was effective in creating this image of a fallen soul, as he was sat on the side of the road.

Filming Performance Shots

I finally found someone who would mime the lyrics of the song, Radioactive, as part of the performance aspect of my music video. Although, I have yet to film instruments being played, I am glad to have filmed the miming aspect of the music video. I decided to go for a sombre appearance and location for this part, as I though it would portray the serious message of the song. I chose the dark drama studio at my school, in order to film these shots, which I think gave a really effective and professional finish and quality to them. I used spotlights to increase the intense focus on Henry (the guy who mimed the lyrics), which I believe will impact on the audience and give a new dimension to the meaning of the music video. I felt that I acquired a good range of shots and I have learnt how to film more interesting and good quality shots, which really showcase his emotions. This I believe, also came across in Henry's clothing, which is similar to that of the band, Imagine Dragon's Indie Rock appearance. This again contributes to the genre of the song, which will hopefully come across in the music video.

Filming at Home

I used my house for the majority of the shots that I filmed, as it is quite old and has interesting areas and rooms in which to film. Specifically, I filmed the shots of the young girl at the beginning of the music video, the young boys on the computer and the two young girls begging with flowers. I found that with the shots I had previously filmed, they were all similar in shot style and therefore I felt there wasn't a big enough range of shot types. With these particular shots around the location of my house, I tried to get a variety of shots, including extreme close ups, in order to create a more interesting music video. When editing, I will play around with the speed of the shots, as well as changing the brightness of the colour to make the music video look more absurd and unrealistic.

Bristol Filming

On Saturday, I filmed the shots of the prostitute and the middle aged woman doing graffiti on a wall. I managed to get a good range of shots, which I can work with, despite the unpredictable weather. Although, it started out quite sunny, halfway through filing it started to pour with rain. Therefore, I will have to carefully edit the shots to get rid of any continuity. Originally I was unsure of the location for filming the prostitute. However, after driving around Bristol for a bit, we found a really interesting and dirty looking warehouse, in which I filmed against. A couple of streets down, we found a huge wall with graffiti all over it, in which I again filmed against, as my location for my middle aged woman doing graffiti on a wall. Overall, I got a better range of shots than I specified in my storyboard, which I will now edit together, to produce flowing and appealing shots.

Bristol Docks Filming

On Saturday, I filmed the shots of the old couple having tea on the train tracks. I managed to acquire a range of interesting shots, which portray the strange and destroyed society, which I am trying to portray. However, we came across some difficulties three quarters of the way through filming as a train came along. Although the train track that we used to film had not been in use for a long time, unfortunately there was party on one of the trains which was running on the tracks around Bristol. We were told to vacate the tracks as we did not have permission to film on them. Despite the fact that we were at the end of the tracks, which had been boarded up and where the train did not come up to, we still had to get off the tracks. This resulted in us not being able to shoot all of the required shots. Therefore, I am having to slightly adapt my story board, to fit in with the shots that I did manage to get.

First Shots Filmed

Following my filming schedule, I have recently filmed the shots of the girl playing with the dolls house and the boy without his top on, drinking beer. I had to re shoot the shots of the girl playing with the dolls house as the lighting kept changing and it wasn't consistent throughout the shots. In the re shoot of the scenes, I managed to control the lighting of the shots a bit more but when I edited the shots, I had to change the colour and saturation slightly, to even out the lighting. This did however create a dream slight effect, which I wanted to incorporate in these first couple of shots.

When filming the shots of the boy without his top on, drinking beer, I didn't have much time as the weather was extremely cold and I didn't want the actor to get too cold. I did however manage to get a range of shots, which I worked with when editing. The lighting was again a bit of a problem, but I will try and change the colour and saturation to even this out. I found once filming the shots, that there were some inconsistencies and continuity within the scenes. Therefore, I may have to re shoot a couple of the shots of the boy.

Filming Schedule

Ancillary - Album Advert Designs

Similarly to my digipak designs, here are some rough digital designs, using images that I have manipulated on Adobe Photoshop for the album adverts. I have used urban and Banksy elements again to influence my album advert. I have used the red balloon as a key feature on the first design, with the young girl reaching out to grab hold of the balloon (a sign of freedom and hope). I played around with Adobe Photoshop and managed to create a 'brick' curtain using different effects that I had found. The girl is breaking out of the wall, which represents how society has trapped her and is reaching for hope. In my second design, I used a photo that I had taken when filming part of my music video at the train tracks in Bristol. I again played around with Adobe Photoshop and added an effect to the image, to make it have a cartoon like appearance. Within both designs, I have used the recognisable Imagine Dragons font for their name and also, a bold, block font for the title of the album and the information about the album. The bold, bright white font stands out against the slightly darker backgrounds and is eye catching to the target audience. I have included a small snapshot of the actual digipak front cover, so that the target audience would be able to easily associate the album advert with the album case.

Album Advert Design 1:

Album Advert Design 2: