Evaluation of Progress from AS to A2

Media was a completely new subject for me, something in which I have been interested in for many years yet rather knowledgeable in the subject; therefore I took the subject in order to expand my knowledge and gain more depth into what is media.
Preliminary AS
My first task was the preliminary task where we had to shoot a short proportion of a thriller opening which I would have to go to film later on. The preliminary was a great opportunity to practice some of the basic yet common shots which we would later on use in our real thriller opening. These shots included; matched cut, high/low angle shot, pan shot and close up. These shots made up the bases of the majority of our shots in the actual thriller opening. Below is my preliminary task from A2:

During this task I learnt not only how to perform certain shots but that location or setting is incredibly important when filming a film as it sets the mood and tone, adds to the tension as, for example, a forest has connotations of vulnerability and being alone. As you can see in my preliminary, location was something that I did not fully take into account when planning.
Another thing I learnt from the preliminary was that Mise En Scene also helps the audience empathise with a character (or not) and have a personal relationship with them (if the characters face is revealed and shown to the audience this would build a relationship whereas if they have a hood, as shown in the preliminary video, this relationship is harder to build).
However, overall, this preliminary, being my first time filming something like this, I thought it went well and opened my eyes to how hard and how much preparation and research goes into filming a thriller opening.
Preliminary A2
Being almost a year on since I filmed my first preliminary task, I have learnt valuable skills and sufficiently developed my technical side when dealing with; the camera and performing various camera shots; research and planning into location/ setting, time of day and weather; Mise En Scene within the shot which includes costume, props as well as lighting; and editing which is almost as important as the filming of the video as it, in my eyes, shows the true potential of the video. Below is my A2 preliminary task where we had to recreate a music video and we chose to do Ben Howard's Keep Your Head Up:


Personally, I thought my group and I did I really good job when filming this video as we put so much time into researching our chosen genre of indie and what the conventions of this entails such as an artistic approach to each video, being independent from other artists, heavy reliance on the instruments being used which are mainly a acoustic guitar and drums. We also researched various locations in our surrounding area to find the perfect and most like the original video. Furthermore we prepared for the video a lot more efficiently as we created a shot list which allowed us to follow the timing of the shots, the shot type used for example close up, pan or over the shoulder etc, and the Mise En Scene used in each shot all in comparison to the original video. Below is a picture of that sheet:
In comparison to my AS preliminary video, I felt that the execution in the shots performed was a lot sharper, precise and they were the perfect shots for the action going on and captured the actor and his actions clearly. Personally, I felt that each shot we did was the best shot and also, it matched the shots used in the original video. When doing the shots as well, they came out a lot more steady as I learnt that an unsteady shot not only loses marks but it just looks unprofessional. Time of day was an important factor to take into account in the filming of the video as the sun had to be setting whilst we filmed certain parts and I felt we caught the rays perfectly  in our shots.
However, I've learnt that for when we film the real music video, I would want to use less shots and hopefully get more block and longer shots as editing proved to take a rather long time as we had to editing each shot individually and they were very short shots indeed. Therefore, it was very time consuming when editing.


My Best and Worst Points
So far, in both my videos I have acted and been filmed; therefore I think that one of my strong points is the ability to act on camera. Another thing I think is my best quality is, is editing. I have always taken a lead role within editing the videos my group and I have produced and I feel like I have done a good job in doing so. Due to taking a leadership or captain style role in sports or other extra curriculum activities, I personally feel that I have used that skill whilst planning for the videos, editing and when we go out and actually film the videos.
However, as nobody's perfect I do have some bad points. What I've learnt from AS is that, despite me knowing many technical terms I fail to put them into my research and planning. Another bad point is that I need to be open various ideas when filming as I can be quite narrow minded whilst planning for an idea and therefore not take an idea and look at it from multiple different ideas.

What Have I learnt From Research and Planning
During AS I did not think research and planning was as important as my teachers made it out to be, however after doing it thoroughly for my A2 preliminary task I have found out just how useful it is. By researching my chosen genre of indie, I have found out that there is so much to be learnt and that it can seriously aid me when planning for filming videos as I know so much about the indie genre and that there is so many different angles in which I can approach the filming of a video that it is not that hard to be independent and unique.

DIGIPACK

Below are our final decisions for our DigiPack photos. Next to majority of the photos I have listed why the photo was chosen.

Being our favourite photo during the photo shoot and proven to be the best outcome after editing, we chose this photo as it fitted the indie genre perfectly. The bold, block capital newspaper headline accompanied with the faded font going across the photo as well as the black and white effect on top, it gave the impression that this was straight out of a newspaper; which, as a result of this, was our intended choice. We also added an overlay on the photo, which is where we combined two photos together to give, an almost, ghostly effect to the image. Therefore, due to everything listed above, the entire image can be 'interpreted' by the audience which is the bands overall aim; to be interpreted in different and individual ways. 

This was another one of our favourite images due to, firstly, the soft lighting in this image which emphasised the various green and brown colours in the background which overall, accentuates the nature; a strong, recurring theme within the band. Secondly, the absence of sharpness and the bokeh effect on the artist means that his distinctive features are out of focus and therefore allowing him to be interpreted, in terms of look, by the audience. Furthermore as the artist has his hands in a praying position, it implies a certain religious aspect to the band.

The vintage effect used here is a common and recurring effect used within the indie genre and due to the soft lighting which works perfectly alongside with the vintage filter. Yet again, the artist is not making eye contact with the audience for reasons unknown; another aspect to be interpreted. 

As mentioned in the previous image, this image also uses a vintage effect but includes more hard lighting to give the almost spot light focus on the artist. Also, the use of the low angled shot makes it seem as if the artist is performing to his audience and looking down on them but not in a degrading way. 

Here, we removed the vintage effect and replaced it with a black and white one to fit with the newspaper style theme. The hard lighting blocks out the artists's face and replaces it with a shadow-like outline; this therefore makes him seem unidentifiable to his audience. 

This image includes the bokeh effect again as it focuses on the branch going across the image highlighting the nature theme. The artist is left of centre in this shot and appears to be kneeling down and looking up. This is to encourage interpretation with what he is looking at for the audience.

This image was one of the overlayed images used in the front cover. The low angle shot makes the artist seem as if he an important figure within the band. He is also staring out into the forest, away from the camera, but what he is looking at remains a mystery and therefore carries on the theme of interpretation within the images.

The final inlay is my favourite image. The combination of hard lighting in the background of the shot makes the trees seem darker and almost imposing on the artist. As a result of this, this accentuates the soft lighting on the artist which is created by the beam of sun on the artist. The sun light almost gives the impression that the artist if chosen as it creates a rather confined circle around him. The artist is also positioned away from the camera, removing all connection with the audience as done in previous images. His head is also positioned facing up at the light, as if he is, in a way, embracing the light. The bokeh effect is used once again to blur the nature in the background which gives the impression that nature itself is moving around him. Therefore subtly bringing in a magical atmosphere. 

The back cover of the DigiPack moves away from the nature and newspaper theme as seen in previous images and instead takes on another indie convention; watercolour. The image is a drawing of half the face of the artist and the 'running off' of the watercolour paint gives the impression that the artist is reaching out to his audience. The song names used as well are rather ambigous and hard to figure out what the song would exactly be like. Therefore each name, especially 'only glamorous in retrospect' and 'language of the people' are open for interpretation by the audience. Despite the image being in watercolour, this is the only image used throughout the DigiPack where the artist is making eye contact with the audience. 

DigiPack Front Covers

Some potential ideas for the front of our DigiPack

This image, being one of my favourite as of present, conforms to the indie genre conventions as, rather obviously, it stands out independently and mirrors a newspaper format due to the faded text going across the image and the bold, centered heading accompanied by the smaller sub-heading. The black and white effect adds to the newspaper style.







In this image, as the black and white effect and the faded text is removed the overlayed image is a lot clearer. The overlay effect makes the image harder to recognise and distinguish the two images being put together; thus allowing for it to be 'interpreted' in various ways which is the aim of our group. The overlay effect also gives the impression of the passing of time of that particular spot, people sitting at the exact spot in different positions and looking out. Therefore that clearly shows how it fits with the indie conventions as it's completely independent and unique.





I am really pleased with the light in this image and the sharpness of the shot. The light from the sun coming through the trees creates this nostalgic atmosphere as well as darken the shot to make the image more ambiguous. In terms of sharpness, as the focus is on the tree trunk (potential place for album name/band name) the image of myself (the artist) is blurred and avoiding details of any facial features which implies that the band is not wanting much attention or that as the artist is unidentifiable it could imply that the person in the shot could be anyone; therefore giving the impression that the band is trying to communicate to a wide variety of people or that a wide variety of people will enjoy their music.


Lastly, the use of the black and white effect in this shot creates an authentic and polaroid style of shot which conforms to the indie genre. The rusty vehicle being sat on was unusable and old which gives the impression that the music will be aimed at an older audience. The vehicle does have 'advance' imprinted on the front of it and this would be a great album name as it looks authentic and the way the text is layed out (starting small and increasing in size as it moves in) it can be interpreted that there is an advancement of the band or that they are advancing forward with their music; possibly revolutionising indie music or genre. The red streak which has been edited on highlights the artist of the band, making him seem more important and a significant figure. The red streak also looks like a camera flare which is a common feature within indie album covers.

DigiPack Back Covers

Various potential ideas for the back cover of our DigiPack

Finished Preliminary Video

We finally finished our preliminary video for Ben Howard's Keep Your Head Up

Digipack Font

These are some possible ideas for the font on our digipack:

Digipack Song List

As we are making the most authentic digipack possible, an obvious inclusion is the song names featured on the pack on the digipack. Therefore we came up with 12 song titles which are as followed:

1. Humble
2. Only Glamorous In Retrospect 
3. Problems The Problem
4. Visualise
5. Language Of The People
6. This Isn't Even Wrong
7. Our Utmost
8. Keeping Up With Yesterday
9. Capacity
10. Advanced
11. Sometimes By Chance
12. Injustice

DigiPack Photo's

While planning for our digipack cover/ album cover we talked about using an original indie style in terms of album cover and use water colours. As mentioned in some of my previous posts, water colours are used frequently with indie bands and therefore we decided to see how it would look. Rubie was able to draw up a water colour sketch to the other side of the photo we took of myself. Below is that picture

DigiPack Photos

On the Thursday 28th of June my group went out to film our preliminary task of Ben Howard's 'Keep Your Head Up' as mentioned in previous posts. However, as the weather was in our favour and the sun shinning through the trees gave us such a spectacular variety of light and colours to work with so, as a result of this, we decided to take some DigiPack photos for our album cover. As we are conforming to the conventions of the indie genre; we edited the photos using various vintage filters and black and white techniques which allowed us to fit into the indie genre. Below are a few examples of the shots we took: