Website Signed Off

Yesterday our website got signed off. A lot of research was done by the group to identify the conventions of industry websites. We based a lot of the pages on our site on those of Pixie Lott's website, and tried to make it as interactive as possible. There are competitions that the fans can get involved in and win tickets to see Lexi live and a twitter feed to the artist can personally keep in touch.

Some of the pages featured on our site;

Album Cover Signed Off

This is our finished album cover digipack - the version that has been sent off to the printers. We're happy with how it looks and feels it represents the artist well as a debut album cover. The front cover will engage with with the audience and grab attention from those that wouldn't normally buy her album and I particularly like the inside panels where the two panels are one image.

Website

Despina and I have done a lot of work on the website recently and it is near enough ready to be signed off. After looking at a lot of industry websites like those of Pixie Lott and Lily Allen, we realised that the nearly every artist has their album advertised on the front page of the website before you enter the navigation page. We've attempted to create the same sort of page for the home page and also have a lot of the pages done already.

We're using wix.com to create our artist website on

Our first page advertising our album

 Pixie Lott's first page advertising her album

Our artists home page

The banner with our page titles

The picture we've used for the background on every page

Album Cover Shots

We've had two photoshoots with Liv in the Seward Studio and have got some good photos for our ancillary texts - the album cover and website.

These are the photos we've decided to use for our album cover;

This picture is an establishing shot of our artist - it has a direct address to the audience and is instantly eye grabbing. This photo is being used as the front cover for our album as when it is on the shelves it will grab audience attention. The shot is slightly sexual as she is biting her necklace and half her face is covered by her hair suggesting promiscuity - this will attract males. As this is the artists debut album, it is important that her identity it established and she will be recognisable to her audience in future, and this shot achieves that.

This is the shot we have decided to use for the inside cover of the album. I had the idea that we could use one wide shot for both inside panels as it goes against conventions of using the two panels individually with separate shots. This image will be split in two, with Lexi on one side and her shadow on the other - we also had the idea to use the image of the bird that is on her jumper as a visual motif for the artist. To achieve synergy and establish this as her motif, we are probably going to use a silhouette of the bird on the right hand side next to her shadow, as if the bird is flying off.

This is the image we've decided to have on the back cover of the album. It is a mid-shot of Lexi and is not a direct address to the audience. The artist is looking to the side and on the album this is where the track listing will be. We thought this was a quirky idea for the back cover as if she is looking at her tracks. The visual motif of the bird is continued on the back as she is wearing the same jumper.

Photoshoots

We've now had two photoshoots and got a lot of good shots. I'm now confident that we have enough photos for both ancillary texts - the album cover and website. The shots we don't use can be used on a photo page on the website so anything good we have is benefitial to us. We have had a few problems - on the first shoot some of our photos mysteriously went missing - but overall the photoshoots have been a success.

Setting up the photoshoot in the Seward studio

The shots of Liv that can be used for ancillary texts



Group Progress

At this stage of the project it is vital that we get all aspects finished and perfected and as we are under time restraints, in order to reach our deadline, we decided that it would be best if we split up the tasks. Anisah is working on the album cover, Despina and Joe are working on perfecting the final edit of the video and I am working on the website.

Editing

As we have finished filming all the footage we need, we are now putting together a final edit. The group is working on this together and we are all learning new skills. Some of the editing techniques we've learnt working on this project are;


Reversing footage so it plays backwards


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As the main concept of our video is the reverse theme, it is important that we learned how to reverse footage properly. In some of the clips the footage in reverse looks a little strange so it needed to be sped up to stop it looking boring and out of place. Everyone knows how to do this and we are all making sure each group member gets a chance to try reversing footage.


Colour correction so each shot looks sharp


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As we are not professionals using industry equipment, most of our shots are not well contrasted and look different to the rest. This is particularly evident in the lip sync shots from Neal's Yard where each shot has a different colour wall behind it. Our new technician Chris has taught us how to colour correct and contrast each shot properly so the video all fits together and has a glossy feel to it.


Editing the shots so everything is in time


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As we are creating a music video, timing is essential. Because music videos do not follow the typical conventions of film (180 degree rule, continuity etc.) it is very important that the timing of the video is perfect. From our rough cut, we established that we were editing our footage so that shots were too long and drawn out which made it boring for the viewer and feedback from our audience confirmed this. To avoid this problem we are now editing the footage so that it cuts to the beat - this makes the video a lot more lively and fast paced which keeps the audiences attention and is much more suited to our genre.


Editing the lip sync shots so the artist sings in time


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It is crucial that the lip syncing shots included in our video are edited so the artist sings in time with the lyrics - even if the footage is one frame out it is immediately noticable and reduces the standard of the video. It is a tedious job to make sure that every shot is in time to the lyrics and we are having to go through frame by frame to make sure it is perfect, but it will be worth it once we see the end product.

Final Shoot

Thankfully the weather was good enough this weekend for us to have our final shoot. We got a lot of good shots for the walking montage and the day was really successful. We used a courtyard called 'Neals Yard' for all of the lip syncing shots - it had different coloured walls and looked really good on camera. We also used Covent Garden as a setting which helped to capture traditional London which is what we wanted. I was really happy that we managed to shoot outside as I really wasn't keen on changing the concept of our video.

Shoot Problems

This week we had planned to shoot in London but the weather has been terrible meaning we couldn't. To maintain some continuity between our footage we couldn't have rain in some shots and good weather in some. We've got another shoot planned for outside but in case we have the same problems we have a few possible solutions.

As a new concept, we will reshoot the shots we need indoors. This will  mainly be the lip syncing shots that were originally at Ally Pally because they were unsuccessful and not what we had hoped. Some other footage that was shot outside might also have to be shot in the bedroom. We have two possible options on where to shoot, either Despina's bedroom or Anisah's bedroom.

Although this solution is definitely something to consider, I would still rather continue with our original concept and I hope the weather allows us to shoot again in London.

Whole Group Rehearsal

A problem that was apparent from our first shoot is that Liv didn't feel completely confident acting in front of a camera. To try and solve this problem and help Liv feel more comfortable, the group met up today at lunchtime to rehearse together. Unfortunately Joe couldn't make the rehearsal but the rest of us played the song and took it in turns to walk up and down the studio singing. At first everyone was understandably nervous but after ten minutes or so everyone lost their inhibitions and we all felt a lot more comfortable, even enjoying making fools of ourselves!

Liv and Despina rehearsing in the studio

First Shoot Days

On Thursday and Friday of half term we had our first shoots. On Thursday we shot across London at locations including Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Soho and Camden. After planning our shots well, some turned out really well and when watching the footage back, a lot worked effectively. As can be expected however, some shots didn't work as well as we'd hoped and we need to cut together a rough edit to work out what went wrong and how we can improve this.

On Friday we all met at Ally Pally for the lip sync shots for the video. The weather wasn't what we'd hoped for so the view over London wasn't great and Liv didn't know all the words to the song which meant getting good footage hard. Some shots did work however, such as the shot of Liv on the bench where the colouring was really effective, and the day wasn't a disaster.

To-do-list;
- Cut together a rough edit to see what worked and what didn't
- Go through the footage and troubleshoot to find a resolution to any problems
- Work on our actresses confidence, Miss Blackborow has suggested the whole group meet up this week and sing together to help Liv feel more confident
- Plan a reshoot