Lip-sync update

Previously, we posted on the Darkness' fan page asking for musicians who fit the following to be in our video:

• Willing to participate for free
• Able to play an instrument
• Know the song 'Barbarian'
• Lives in either Norwich or Gorleston (filming locations)
• Free next week (half term)

It has now been a while since this was posted and we only received 1 reply. As we are nearing the deadline of our video and cannot organise more of a band, we have decided to use people we know to imitate the band in the lip syncing parts. We will use close up shots to cover up the fact we are using people we know, and fast paced shots to fit with the fast paced action of the battle scenes. We will be filming this today and editing asap.

Final cut progress so far

After a few hours of editing, we realized that quite a few shots are boring/mediocre. Therefore, we plan to give ourselves more work by adding scenes of a lip-syncing and a band playing. As our deadline is quickly approaching, it may be difficult to get this done. To confront this problem, we will be editing the video now with the scenes that we have, and will also be creating another edit if we are able to get lip-syncing done.

To go in search of a band, we have posted on the Darkness' fan page asking for musicians who fit the following to be in our video:

• Willing to participate for free
• Able to play an instrument
• Know the song 'Barbarian'
• Lives in either Norwich or Gorleston (filming locations)
• Free next week (half term)

Hopefully we get enough replies asap that we can plan and film before the deadline.

Finished Ancillary tasks

Today, we finished the Ancillary tasks for our video. These are shown below:

I think that the poster is the best of the two finished products. This is because it related to the video, contains information about social media for contact or more information, and it also isn't too crowded, which makes it look simple but effective.
With the Digipak, we simplified the rough version so that there was less text and a spine to the case. This would allow us to put a CD backing in the digipak if we were to print an actual version of our design.

Audience feedback: Ancillary tasks

Since the last post we have made a few alterations in the designs of our ancillary products so today we decided to get some feedback from the target audience about them.

 

This is the latest version of our ancillary products and this is what we showed when retrieving our feedback.

The poster -                                                       The digipak -

 

We made sure to ask a variety of people within our target audience so we could get a range of responses towards our ancillary products.

 

The poster -

Most responses said that people liked the image used in the poster and thought that it suited the genre of the music (rock and roll) well. They also said that they liked the layout of the poster and that the simple design looked professional and cool. It was also said that the use of social media advertising was good as it directly targets the younger audience of the product.

A common negative response that we got for the poster said that it looked a little dark and dull and that ideally it needed to be made lighter to look more appealing and eye-catching.

 

The digipak -

Many of the responses for our digipak said that overall they liked the design and layout, especially the use of a shield for the background of the jewel case. Responses also said that they liked the use of fonts in the designs and they also liked the fact that we the bands logo and also showed recognition to the re-enactment group that was used in the production of the music video. It was also said that there was suitable imagery used throughout the digipak design and that it suited the genre of the music video well. Some responses also said that they liked the idea that the front cover and the back cover were one continuous image, rather than having two separate images for each.

A criticism of our digipak design was that in some places it looked a bit 'busy' and that we should consider removing some logos or fonts to create more space within the design.

 

 

In general, most of the responses towards our ancillary products were good and people mostly said that they liked the designs and thought they were simple, yet professional. There were a few criticisms but we can use these to help improve our designs before deciding upon our final products.

Overall filming review

Now that the filming is all finished, we have been able to reflect upon what we have done. The first day, the Viking day, was a very professional, full day of filming. We learnt new experiences from directing and positioning, and learnt how to deal with a larger cast than previous projects. It also gave us much more professional clips than we thought we would ever be able to use in our A level project, which will hopefully make us stand out among others.

With the second half of filming, it enables us to practice working with kids and media, which some people may not have the patience for. When you give a child toys and fake weapons, all they want to do is pretend to fight. This means it is very difficult to be able to direct the children in order to get the shots that you want. This, however, was not a problem as the children were eager to help and wanted to be in the video. I also let them keep the weapons after which ensured they would do their best.

Now that all the filming is done, we look forward to starting the editing process and producing a finished product.

Image rights

For our project, we had to ensure that we had permission from people in the video (or their parents/guardians) to use their images in our coursework. For this, we asked them to sign image rights forms, which gives us full permission to use the footage of them. These have been filed away with digital copies saved as well.

Changes to rough cut

To prepare for the final edit, we asked some people questions that we would like to know the answer to, to better our chances of improving the video. As all the people we asked were happy with the footage we had, main question that will help us to improve is:

In what ways would you improve how the rough cut was edited?

The replies that we had were as follows:

• 'I didn't like the turbines in the background, but I do like your idea of them purposely being there to subtly show that what you are watching isn't real. But personally, if I didn't know this fact, I would try and change that.'
• 'There were a couple of shots used more than once that need to be changed, apart from that I couldn't find a flaw!'
• 'I think you could add a few faster paced shots to increase the drama of the battle.'
• 'There are a few shots that are the same, so I would edit those out. Apart from that, its perfect!'

From the comments that we got, there were lots of positive points, which is encouraging as we edge closer towards a final edit of our video. The things that we will be changing based off these comments are:

• Not using the same shot more than once (this was planned to be done but picked up a lot in feedback).
• Add more pace to some of the shots, potentially breaking up some of the shots to create the illusion of more action occurring.
• Try to maybe remove turbines in the background, but if not then it does not matter as it shows that the battle is not real, suggesting the children's imaginations are not perfect.

Things that we will change that we, as a group, have decided upon include:

• Adding a filter to the video (not too obvious or grainy, just to set the era).
• Smoothen and stabilize the shots, to make the video look more professional.

On shoot images for 2nd half of filming

The second half of the filming was very successful, here are a selection of photos from the day, which we will use on our poster:

Shooting schedule for 2nd half of filming

We plan to film the second half of our video this coming weekend. We will only use 1 camera and 1 tripod, and only 1 or 2 of us will be there. This is because we only need 10 seconds of simple footage, so having too many people and too much equipment is unnecessary.
We will also need props for this part of the filming, and we plan to let the kids use typical toys that children may have for pretend fighting (e.g. light sabres, plastic swords, outdoor toys). This will add more nostalgia to the video and add to the realism of the children's behaviour.

The schedule for the filming will be:
1 hour, between 1pm and 2pm, on Sunday 10th January

I am confident that we will get the filming done in much less than one hour.

Ancillary tasks so far

This is currently the design for the poster for our coursework:

At the moment it is very basic as it only features an image and the name of the song and band.

This image was also taken on the filming day and was originally only the size of a square. With the use of photoshop we were able to extend the photo to get it to the desired shape for a poster.

When having discussions with the group, there was an idea to layer over an image from the second part of the music video (with the children) to add more creativity to the poster - changing the opacity settings of both images to make them merge together. I think that this is a cool idea and should definitely be something to experiment with, whilst developing our photoshop skills.
Another aspect of the poster that we are yet to add is social media and website addresses - this is something that is primarily used by the target audience of our product so this is an ideal platform for the promotion of the music video.

This is the current design idea for the inside of our digipak:

The panel on the left features our own picture taken on the first day of filming and is of one of the Viking groups running over a hill. The text over the image gives information about the members of the band, The Darkness.
The panel on the right is where we would house the CD within the digipak. We originally thought about using a jewel case for the CD to clip in to and so the background image was designed to be the same shape as a CD. However, we have now decided that the CD would instead slot into a pocket inside the digipak, and so the shield on this panel can be used as an indication as to where the CD is.


When designing this ancillary product we wanted there to be a strong Viking theme throughout and so we have achieved this by using images of the Viking characters throughout the product. We have also decided to use the logo of the band, The Darkness, throughout the product so it makes the song familiar to the target audience.
At the moment we have not received any audience feedback about this ancillary product as we are still in the planning and design stages. However, any feedback that is received will be taken into consideration when making any alterations before deciding upon the final product.

Location research for 2nd half of filming

The location that we will be using for the second half of filming is my uncle's house/garden. We have chosen this location as we do not need to ask many people for permission, and as we are using children in our families, it will make getting to the location and directing the cast much easier.
The garden is a typical small/medium sized space, with a tree in the centre. The garden is also currently rather muddy, which will add to the battle scene theme as it will be more like the desolate wasteland that the Vikings battled on in the first half of filming.