Exploring Ideas For the Digipak

Deciding on a Band Name

As expected, this was quite a long and difficult process as we found it difficult to agree on a name which suitably portrayed the band in the way we wanted. As a starting point, we wrote down all of the things we wanted to portray as part of the bands image:

• Organic
• Distressed
• Raw
• Natural
• Serious
• Edgy/quirky
• Alternative
• Intelligent

After suggestions such as 'Behind the Shadows', someone suggested 'Thinking In Binary'. There was something about this name which grabbed our attention. 'Thinking In Binary' suggested the intelligence which we wanted to portray as binary is a mathematical/scientific term. Initially we went with this idea and began brainstorming potential digipak covers. We came up with quite an interesting cover of a circular world made up from a series of 1's and 0's – suggesting binary. We then wanted to place the band's name centrally with the album name underneath – 'Homes 2 Far Away'. The '2' would be placed deliberately amongst the 1's and 0's as if to make a point – contradicting the code of binary. Whilst we thought this idea was quite clever, we weren't really sure whether it suggested the organic, raw quality that we had intended.

We were keen on the this controversial, contradicting idea, and so tried to come up with phrases which perhaps suggested this contradiction. After a long session of brainstorming, we eventually decided on 'Darwin In Eden'. The contradiction of two theories of how the world began seemed like an appropriate band name as it would make people think, enforcing the serious aspect of the band's image.

After establishing our band name, we explored with potential possibilities regarding the digipak cover. To do this, we used Adobe Photoshop where we looked at the different fonts that were available. We really liked the 'DeadPostman' font, as there was a raw, distressed quality to it which portrayed the organic quality of the band.

We used google images as inspiration for the album artwork before collecting our own images. Our music video showed used quite a warped perspective to express the intensity of the emotions portrayed, so we though we'd use this concept and apply it to our digipak. We found some blurred images on Google which we experimented with in Photoshop. My skills within photoshop were fairly limited so I had to just experiment through trial and error, seeing what worked and what didn't. Due to the low saturated lighting of our video, I decided to keep the colours of the digipak fairly neutral which also suggested the organic quality of the band. These were some initial ideas:

We then moved onto something much more obvious. A tree is essentially what signifies the Eden theory, so we thought that this would create quite a strong identity in terms of promoting the band's image. On google we found some images of trees which we experimented with initially, but we would later collect our own images to put in the final digipak.

Account of Shoot Day - Narrative Element

For the narrative element of our video, we travelled by mini-bus to Guildford and arrived at Farnham Road Car Park at about 5pm. Fergus and Connor drove in convoy in their own cars which we planned to use for the video shoot. We drove up to floor 9, where there was a cleared area of the car park which was a suitable place for filming in.

To begin, we gave the cast a short brief, explaining to them what they had to do. We then began filming the shots in sequence of their occurrence, first starting with the shot of Pete opening the boot of the car and falling to the ground. We filmed this from a few different angles, with a variety of wide and mid shots. We filmed this in slow motion, which involved changing the settings on the camera. The slow motion function allowed us to shoot only 6 seconds worth of film so we had to ensure that the action was captured within the 6 seconds. It would then buffer and convert into slow motion. The slow motion effect had so much more of an impact, and captured that dramatic feeling that we had intended.

In one of the shots where Pete’s head hits the ground, we had hoped to have a bit of blood coming out of his ear, but this proved to be much more difficult than we had first anticipated. We tried to pour the fake blood into the cave of his ear and asked him to slighting turn his head as it hit the floor to allow the blood to drip out. After a few times of trying, we established that it wouldn’t look very effective, so we decided to scrap that idea. This however meant that we had to clean up any trace of the blood because it couldn’t appear in any of our other shots.

After we had captured all the footage between Connor and Pete, we started to use our extras for their reaction shots. We gave each of our extras a different scenario in which they should react to the body on the floor. These reactions shots were very realistic, and I think we managed to capture the desperation and helplessness that they might have felt if they were to have been in that situation.

We decided to use a Go Pro Cam, which we attached to the roof of one of the cars where we also put a blue flashing light. This was meant to suggest the presence of an ambulance as it would have been too difficult to get a real ambulance. I’m not sure how successful this shot was as we were unable to see it, but hopefully we will be able to incorporate it into our video somehow.  

Overall, I think the narrative element was shot fairly successfully, although it was very late and so we were all very tired which could have perhaps affected our performance during the shooting. Despite this, we didn’t come across any real issues and I think we managed to capture the intensity and seriousness of being in that kind of situation.

 

Account of Shoot Day - Performance

Before the band arrived at 8.50, Laura, Fergus and I collected all the remaining props from the theatre department and ensured that everything was set in place. When the band arrived, we discovered that our bassist had a November Assessment which he had to attend and therefore wouldn’t be available for the shoot until 10am. Although this would hold us back slightly, we decided to let the drummer and lead singer/guitarist rehearse with the track whilst we set up the camera.

Halfway through setting up the camera for out shoot, we decided to use a different camera as the quality would be of a much higher quality. The only disadvantage to using this camera was the fact that we didn’t know how to use it at first, as the technology on this camera was much more advanced than the one we had previously used. However, Fergus knew how to use the camera as he is in the Film Academy, so he gave us a quick demonstration on how to use it. With this camera, we had to measure the distance of the band members in relation to the camera in order to set the pull focus points. This was quite a complex and time consuming procedure, but it was effective in creating the image we wanted.

When our bassist arrived at 10am, we began shooting – first focussing on the wide shots of the whole band, and then on the individual close ups of each band member. Due to our silhouetted lighting set up, it was difficult to see the band’s faces, and although we didn’t really want to be able to clearly see their faces, we thought that a subtle hint of their features would look effective, so we decided to use a reflector. We used the reflector to reflect the light onto the band’s faces which enabled us to see their faces slightly more. There was one shot in particular of lead singer which was really successful, because the reflector picked up hints of his facial features, whilst the lighting made a silhouette around his hair.

As we approached the end of our shoot, we decided to do some tracking shots of the band, which involved setting up a track route around the band. First we started off by setting up a semi-circle track around the band, which enabled us to focus on each member of the band with one smooth, seamless shot. Initially this was quite a daunting prospect, as I had never used the tracking equipment before, but after the first shot, I became fairly confident with it. We then set up another tracking set up, which was a straight diagonal line down the side of the band. This tracking shot didn’t work as well, but it has given us an wider selection of shots to choose from.

Overall, I think the performance element of the shoot was very successful, and we managed to complete the shoot within about 3 hours without any drastic problems. I think my team co-operated well, as we all shared the roles so that each of us had a chance to use the camera and shoot a few shots. However, Fergus had the most shooting experience as he is in the Film Academy, so Laura and I took more of the Directors roles to allow his to be the cameraman.

Setting Up the Performance

Here I have compiled a bunch of videos together which I took on my phone throughout the course of setting up for our video and actually recording the performance element of our video. I felt that this was a much more visually interesting way of seeing what we did on the day, however it involved quite a complex process due to the videos on my phone not being in the right format. This meant that I had to transfer the videos from my phone to my laptop via a cable, where I then converted them into AVI video files. This mean that I could import them into Windows Movie Maker, where I could then edit them to fit in time with the music and apply effects on them to speed them up. This process took several hours, as I had to filter through the videos to see which ones were suitable to use and then had to find a place to slot them within the video. Despite the long process, I think this gives a good idea of what we did on the day, and it was a much more fun and interesting way of portraying this.

Band rehearsal

Here I have created a short montage of the band rehearsal clips, where using Windows Movie Maker, I have imported the ‘Climbing Up the Walls’ track to fit alongside.

Band Practice

In preparation for our shoot day, we decided to get our band to learn their allocated parts and to practice them. We gave them the chords and lyrics which we sourced from Ultimateguitar.com, which we then asked them to go away and practice. This evening, we recorded them during the rehearsal.

 

We then filmed Charlie (our lead vocalist and guitarist) learning the lyrics. This was fairly easy due to the fact that we shortened the song from 5 minutes to 3 minutes which meant that there weren't many lyrics to learn. We were unfortunately unable to record him playing the guitar part, but we have given him the chords so that he can go away and learn them for Monday.

We then filmed Oscar playing the drum part:

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

8 30      Meet in studio to set up and to check lighting and make final adjustments to setting

8 50      Costume check (band should be wearing costumes already)

            Give short brief to band to explain the plan for the day

9 00      Rehearse song through with lighting and playback of track

            Throughout band’s rehearsal – get camera set it right place for first wide shot

9 25      Give feedback on band’s performance – make any adjustments

           

9 30      Begin shooting

Shot list

• Wide shot of whole band
• Mid shot of whole band
• Side shot of drummer and guitarist
• Mid shot of singer
• Side shot of singer
• Side shot of bassist

11 00    Break

11 30    Continue shooting

12 45    Lunch

14 00    Finish off any shots that need to be re-done or think of other possible shots

17 00    Collect camera equipment and bring to Mini Bus in Lower Car Park

17 20    All cast members to meet at Mini Bus in Lower Car Park

17 30    Leave to go to Guildford

18 00    Arrive at Car Park in Guildford

18 10    Dinner – Collect something from Guildford (McDonalds?)

18 30    Set up camera equipment and any lighting equipment if necessary

18 50    Everyone ready to shoot – make up and costume

19 00    Begin shooting

22 00    Finish shooting and travel back to Hurtwood

Permission for Copyright Letter

We sent a letter to the record label that released Radiohead’s song ‘Climbing up the Walls’ in order to ask their permission to use their song in our video and to confirm that we can go ahead with out video.

To Parlophone Records,

We are a group of A Level students working on an A Level project for a qualification in Media Studies. We are writing to request permission to use the following track as part of this project:

Radiohead, Climbing up the Walls (Ok Computer)

With your permission the track would be used as the accompaniment to a short form video that is made purely for assessment purpose and will have no commercial usage. The video will be viewed only by members of the school community and the assessor of the examination board.

The artists and the copyright holder will of course be fully recognised in the pre-production and evaluation materials that accompanies the project. We can also include a full copyright notice if required both in the planning material and on the video itself.

Yours Sincerely,

Fergus Brown, Imogen Holmes and Laura Cheese

Hurtwood House School

Finalized Cast List

Cast List

A2’s	AS’s
Charlie Lindsay – Lead Vocalist Oscar Jackson – Drummer Connor Vickery – Performing CPR Rose Salvage – Passer by Charlie Manton – Passer by	Freddie Dixon – Bassist Peter Bergin – Collapsed guy Henry Hammond – Passer by

Due to the unavailability of one of our band members, we have decided to use Charlie Lindsay as both the Lead Vocalist and Guitarist.

Props List

Props List

School will provide:	We will provide:
Fake Blood Blue flashing light (ambulance) Paramedic Outfit: fluorescent jacket, green trousers and green shirt Mic Mic stand Electric Guitar Bass Guitar Business Suit - Phil	Bag of shopping (things that can roll and be visually interesting) – can of baked beans, oranges etc. Drum kit – Oscar Jackson

Due to the fact that an ambulance would be too difficult to source, we have decided to just get a blue flashing light. We have looked on amazon at possible blue lights that we could buy and we found this one which was fairly cheap.

Location for narrative element

We finally came to the decision that we wanted to use an empty multi-storey car park to film the narrative element of our video. This meant that were still keeping with the idea of using a public place, but without the hassle of people. We looked at a previous music video made at Hurtwood, called ‘Rock and Roll’, who used the top floor of a multi-storey car park. We liked the idea of using this as our location as this fits in well with our urban feel of our video, and it is quite a neutral setting which will mean that it won’t detract away from the narrative.

We want the car park to be almost empty, with only a few cars scattered around. This will enhance the hopelessness of a situation which will essentially provoke the audience to empathize with the narrative.

Lighting

Performance Lighting

For our performance element, we only really want to see the silhouettes of our band in order to reinforce the band’s image, which is quite serious and very unlike many bands and artists today. Instead of being in the foreground with lots of flashing lights, and essentially drawing attention to themselves, we wanted to take a different approach. We wanted it to be more about their music as opposed to their appearance. For this reason, we want them to be more in the background, with very few close ups of their faces etc.

In order to achieve this, we’ve spoken with a lighting designer, and we have decided to have some sort of light coming from the back wall which will hopefully produce the silhouette image that we are looking to achieve. We are also thinking of having a thin haze of smoke, which will further emphasize how the band’s music is more important, and how they are so passionate that they are lost in their own music.

We didn’t want any really bright colours as we felt that this would grab too much attention away from the rest of the video and wouldn’t fit in with the image of our band being quite subtle and neutral. For this reason we felt that earthy such as brown and dark red would create that fiery feeling towards the end of the song, whilst not detracting too much away from the other elements in the video.

Narrative Lighting

 I’ve looked at a low key lighting set up for the narrative element of our video, as we had already discussed that we wanted lowly saturated light. We want to keep everything quite neutral, not quite black and white, but with a filter which takes away most of the light. I don’t know whether this is exactly the kind of lighting we will want to use, but we would like to use the concept of this lighting set up, as I feel that it will be a very powerful and epic way of portraying the narrative.

This is a photo that Fergus took on his iphone which I then edited on Picasa. I added a neutral tint and changed the contrast settings to produce this kind of lighting which I feel works quite well.

 

Refined Cast List

For our band, we wanted alternative looking people in order to emphasis the band’s alternative image. We have chosen 3 people who actually play the instruments so that it seems more realistic as opposed to them just miming it. Because of the lighting choices of our set, we won’t see the band members in great detail, instead we will just see their silhouettes.

Practice shots

We didn’t feel as though our storyboard was very successful, as we had not carefully thought about what types of shots we wanted to use, and what we wanted to capture in those shots. From this, we decided to take a series of shots which we thought would be successful in capturing the emotion and intensity of the narrative. These are some of the pictures we took, which I have edited in Picasa 3 to make the lighting look less saturated, which essentially gives it a more dramatic look.

Animatic

Our track was originally about 5 minutes long, so I used the recording studios to cut the song down to 3 minutes. In order to do this, I had to get hold of a wav file of the actual song to ensure it was the best possible quality version. I then imported this into Pro Tools, where I then cut the middle section of the song and then used a cross-fade to overlap the 2 sections so that they joined together at the end of the chorus. I then cut the end of the song, where I used a fade to make the ending not sound too abrupt. I then exported this as a stereo interleaved file which I transported onto a CD. I used this CD to transfer the file onto the computers in the edit suite, where I imported the track into Final Cut Pro in preparation for our Animatic.

We took individual pictures of each storyboard image and positioned them in place alongside the track. Obviously this wasn’t going to be an accurate representation of what our video is going to look like, but we needed a general idea of how the video was going to unfold. This is the animatic we created:

The animatic wasn’t as successful as we had hoped, but we are currently looking at different shots we could potentially use in our video, however we haven’t displayed them in this animatic. This is just a rough idea of how the video will look.

Storyboard

Typical member of our target audience

I thought that this video and this type of band would appeal to a more sophisticated teenage audience because of their slightly obscure, alternative music. I can’t imagine this type of band would appeal to those who like commercial pop music by artists such as Justin Bieber, which often falls in the younger teenage category. I think the audience could range up to adults of middle age, depending on their taste in music, but ultimately, my target audience would be the 16-25 age group. The majority of my class fall into this category, and so the positive feedback suggests that this kind of video will be popular amongst this age group. I think this type of band appeals to both male and females, as the song content is about things that both can relate to.

Costume

We wanted to have the band dressed fairly casually, in order to relate to Dyer’s principle of being simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary at the same time. This means that their audience can relate to them. There won’t be too much emphasis on costume due to the fact that only their silhouette will be shown.



Location

We thought about using an old tube station as our location for the narrative element of our video. We looked into a tube station that had been previously used to shoot one of the thrillers at Hurtwood. I thought that the tube station would be a more dramatic location to film the collapsed body. However we soon came to the realisation that to hire out the tube station to use as a set, it would cost between £300 and £500, which we of course didn’t have to our disposal. We are now trying to think of other possible locations which are in the public eye, but not with too many people.

Cast List

In order to cast our video, we looked at all the theatre students from our school and picked out people who we thought would be suitable for our video. We chose theatre students because our video will heavily depend on the acting in order to give it that dramatic effect.

Incorporating a performance element

Part of the feedback from our pitch was to think about incorporating a performance element within the narrative of the video. We had initially decided that a performance element wouldn’t really work for our video, but after discussing it as a group, we thought that we could introduce one in a non conventional way. Instead of having the band in the foreground, we would have them in the background, perhaps just showing their silhouettes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTvgnYGu9bg

Extending the idea

My group and I discussed possible locations to film our music video, and due to the song content commenting on the mental state of patients in a mental asylum, we decided to look into some abandoned mental hospitals in the area. We came across a few which all looked like ideal places to shoot our music video. Here is a collection of images to portray our ideas for the mise en scene of our video.