WIX - Website for Lion The Weak

In order to portray the star image of the band, we are creating a website for Lion The Weak. We are using the free webpage builder, Wix, which has enabled us to create a professional website.

There is a 'widgets' feature on the website, which allows us to be able to include features such as links to social networking sites and a PayPal logo on our store page, that come at a low cost, or in our case for free. Building the website is clear and Lion The Weak's website is applicable to smart phones as well, which would be of interest to the band's target audience.

Calum in the group has taken most of the responsibility of creating the website, however I have been involved recently to make a few tweaks. For example, below you can see I am changing the thickness of the text to make sure that all the words are clear for users. 
I have also removed the sound cloud link on the Homepage as this would not be typical of a band's website. When I discuss this move with Calum I will propose that we include the sound cloud links on another page, dedicated to their music.

Additionally I have created some of the merchandise for the band on our 'Store' page. I created the sweatshirt using another online website. I included Lion The Weak's signature, promotion and a comical picture on the back to entice their audience. We based the price of the products off other band's websites and band t shirt of our own. These products can, in theory, be purchased using online PayPal accounts. 

Evaluation of research and planning

Evaluating the Rough Cut

At the moment we have a performance cut and a narrative cut.

At first we reviewed all our rushes and selected footage we wanted to use. Some shots were rejected because they were out of focus, were not interesting, included mistakes- which is nothing we weren't expecting.

2nd Shoot Day

  

Today was the filming of the dance and stock motion elements. I have taken pictures to document the process of the day.

Today was the filming of the dance and stock motion elements.
First thing we had to give the dancers their costumes and do their hair and makeup. Then we could bring them onto the ready built and furnished set.
Obviously, we started off by shooting a wide of the dance and then went in closer on the action, by changing the lens of the Sony F.
For the stock motion element, we kept the Canon 5D camera in the same position in order to create the effect of the lion appearing.

I felt that overall we had a successful day. However, at the beginning of the process we lacked communication skills between the group and we often forgot to make it clear that we were 'standing by' and ready to 'roll the camera'. But once we were reminded of the importance of the commands, we became more focused as a group.

Performance Cut Feedback

 After the first shoot with the band, using 'Premier Pro' editing software, we cut a performance cut for our music video. After this was completed, Luke gave the group some feedback of what we can work on and what he liked. 

What he liked:

- The camera work was very well executed and was complimented through the editing 

-The tracking shots added a great texture to the piece

Criticisms:

-There was often random shots where the audience could only see the wallpaper during the tracking shots, showing that we need to cut more regularly between shots
-As it is a performance ased video we need to include more shots of the singer- this is what management would be interested in
-Finally, he said that we should cut into the start of the track a bit later, as it starts off as a bit dead

As a group we have taken this feedback very positively and will help us become more confident when editing the dance element/

Music Video Shoot

Lion The Weak ALbum Artwork

These are the bands existing album artworks. They all have a similar style as they are all black and white and follow this nature theme, showing their organic and their alternative style. We will probably follow a similar style to their existing artworks. I like the idea of using the lions face to be a motif in their artworks.

Day before the shoot

Calum and I got together to brief what are the aims and intentions for our first shoot day. Having obviously developed from this aspect we thought about all the different shots we wanted to take and we decided to include a tracking shot of the band to create more movement in the upbeat track. Additionally, we thought about using slow motion, however I feel that this would be a more interesting effect for the narrative or the graffiti narrative. 

Digipaks

As we develop the star image of the band, Lion The Weak, we are going to create a Digipak for the album 'Nights Out'. There are lots of conventions and styles of a Digipak, which we have been researching in class.

Definition: The CD DigiPak is a modern, stylish alternative to a CD Jewel Case. CD Digipaks are a custom printed card packaging that can hold one or more CDs which are held in place with plastic trays.

What is a CD Digipak? Class discussion...

-They’re a traditional format, which we can buy online

-We can download album  artwork when buying the track/s online

-Digipaks typically consist of a gatefold (book-style)

-Conventions are a widely recognised way of doing something

-The spine becomes the index point

-There is a front cover, back cover, a CD page and an inside cover

A Jewel Case

A Digipak

Layout of a Digipak

Here are some of the typical conventions of a DigiPak:

• A maximum of 2 fonts
• An image that represents the album
• Bold, clear and easy to read font for both the album name and artist name. 
• Recurring visual style
• A tracklist on the back of the album
• The name of the album on the spine
• Production notes on the bottom of the rear of the album, including copyright issues
• A barcode

 Local Natives
The Local Natives are a similar style of band to Lion The Weak. For their album artwork they decided to follow an urban style cover. It is a black and white cover with splashes of colour from their exploding heads. This is a really eye catching and busy album artwork and it also gives the opportunity to introduce the band to their artists. I can tell that this is a very alternative band because of their outfit choices.

Alt-J

Again Alt-J have a similar style but are a lot more famous than Lion the Weak and Local Natives.  This is their most famous artwork cover. This is an interesting cover because of the different colours and textures.

Costumes for Dancers

Developing from the 1920's Beth and I are looking at potential costumes for Liv and Harry the dancers.
Dresses:

We have spoken to Harry about his costume and he has appropriate trousers and a shirt for the shoot, so we would like him to bring those in.
In searching for the dress, Beth and I searched online and found the bottom two dresses of the collage. We went to Loz for some advice about our choices and she told us she has the same material and shape dress but in turquoise. Beth and I liked the sound of this dress and asked her to bring it in. 

The Roaring Twenties

I have been thinking about the image of the band and how we can link it to the our new 1920's props we have. I have been researching dancers over the era and I think it would be really exciting to take a Charleston spin on the dance routine but then make it modern by using modern costumes with a 'swing' feel and when editing experiment with slow motion and rewind.

 

I really like this collaboration of 1920s dancing, it has given me some good inspiration for changing the image of the music video.

Risk Assesment

 

Guidance Video  - I referred to this YouTube video to make sure that I did not forget to include any important details.

Call Sheet

On behalf of the team I have put together a call sheet, which I will send to the band members and the rest of the group. As this will be the first time the band have been to Hurtwood, I have included a map of around the school to make their journey easier, and in case if anything goes wrong, they have plenty of numbers to contact.

Email from the band

Earlier on in the month I sent out an email asking the band for permission to use their song, 'Wasted Words'.  From the email above we have been granted permission, and we have been given the all clear on the new date for the shoot. This is a very good email and deserves to be blogged.

Meeting with TA

Before half term the team met up with the set designer, Tracey Ann, to confirm our set in the TV Studio. Today we had a look at some of the props that she got for us.

Although I feel that we have completely lost our idea of a contemporary 80s set and furniture, I do like the props that are available.

Here are the props:

Shoot Date Change

Due to the unavailability of the band on our original shoot day, we have had to change the date to

Saturday 15th November. 

We have already emailed our dancers, letting them know the updated plans and we are awaiting to hear back from the band, to confirm that they are available for this date. I have also spoken to Doug, head of Performing Arts at Hurtwood, to make sure that everyone involved with this music video, will not need to miss rehearsals, and we have been given the all clear.

If the 15th does end up being our date, this means that we need to make sure we have all our props by the end of the week. Additionally, we will have to organise to stay late on the Friday to build our set after the previous shoot does their get out. Today my group is feeling the pressure.

Getting ready for the Shoot Day

On the day there will be a number of roles that the group will all need to play...

• Director- directs shot selection and look
• Sound Engineer- playback
• Producer- will think about health and safety, that we are following the schedule, that everyone is happy as the shoot unfolds
• Art and Set Designer- to give direction in terms of set, costume and makeup
• Cinematographer- changes lenses, framing angles, choosing shot selections

We will probably collaborate as we will be working together to get the final piece. Although on the day it will be a creative process, we still need to make sure that everyone understands their role, to keep the day organised and efficient. We are looking at taking 100-150 shots on the day apparently, so it is important we keep on top of everything.

Casting

Set Design

In preparation for the meeting with TA, the set designer, we created a set design in order to help us pitch our idea better. Obviously all these ideas are still up for discussion. 

The Role of a Set Designer

Tomorrow at 3, my group will be meeting with a set designer to discuss our shoot. So today we have been finalizing everything we intend to discuss with the designer and Luke tomorrow. Last week during our meeting about sound, they warned us about how much attention to detail we will need to include on our designs. So since then we have been focusing on each image of all of our props, and now we know where we are getting a few of the props, which is great progress.

It is important to have a set designer as during the pre-production stage my group can be directed to establish the visual feel and specific aesthetic needs of the project. Additionally during the get in and on the day of the shoot we can refer back to our designs to make sure everything is going to plan.

One of the many difficulties my group might face is by following a Wes Anderson colour palette, so we will need to discuss this tomorrow about these complications.

Production Date

Jason has just told us that our production date is Monday 24th November. We will need to pass this information onto the band members, to make sure of their availability.

Set and Props Presentation

Blogging the Animatics

After creating the storyboard, we shot the stills, so we could cut them using the Premiere editing software. We then cut the shots in time to the beat of the song Wasted Words. SO now we have a rough idea as to what our music video is going to look like.

Meeting with George

Today we had a meeting with the lighting guy to discuss our idea...

• The first thing we told him was that we have different lengths of light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, his concern was that it was going to create lots of shadows so we will need to include other practical lights to add to the atmosphere. 

• We have also decided we are going to pulsing lights for the first 7 seconds of the video during the opening synths. With this in mind George gave us the advice to not show the audience the band during this 7 seconds
• We were thinking of adding a window at the back of the room to show that it is night time, and also to add to this idea we're in a room of a house. We need to finish our set design to make sure that we are giving the right image across of this room during the dance/ narrative element. The importance of the window will determine the time of day (night) and what sort of lighting is used at this time (house lights, practical lights) 

I was looking at possible images for a window if we do decide this is a good idea.

Adding another element!

 After much discussion amongst the group, we decided that it would be a successful idea to add another stylistic element to the music video, adding on from the narrative. Having taken inspiration from a piece of art from The Tate Modern. It all started with members of the public writing their heights on the wall, this eventually created this thick black line representing the average height. This was really effective as something as writing your height and name on a wall, could represent something on a larger scale.

We want to take this idea and add it into our music video. For example we were thinking that the two dancers could tear down the wallpaper at the back and start drawing on the walls, writing down random words, linking back to the title of the song 'wasted words'. We discussed this with Luke and he said it would be important to have a bigger message being created from just their wasted words. So this is still a work in progress.

The Dance Element

 During the storyboard process, we researched different types of dances for the dance/ narrative element of the music video. Below I have shared links to different videos that I found particularly interesting, which I have shown to our two dancers.

I found the introduction to this dance very entertaining and it also includes similar props, such as the sofa. What I liked most about the routine is that the two dancers perform on and around the sofa, using the most of their space.

From this video, although it is a completely different format, I liked the relationship between the two characters and the use of synchronized movement is perfect for the movement we want in the music video.

Dance Rehearsal

We sent out an email to the dancers to make sure they confirm  their availability for a rehearsal

Liv and Harry

We thought it would be a good idea to get on top of the routine before half term. So we emailed our two dancers on Sunday evening to have a rehearsal on the Monday.
At first, we let them listen to the song so they could get to terms with the rhythm and pace of the track. Then we showed them the videos of the two different routines, to give them our perspective on their role. Then for the next hour they started creating snippets of routines they could do. Liv and Harry work really well together and for the first rehearsal we got a lot done, so as a group we feel confident with this element. Already we can see lots of interesting shots during their routine. We will probably have another rehearsal before we break up for half term, just so we can create a little more before

Creating the Storyboard

As a group we have been researching possible frames for the music video, while we have been drawing up the storyboard. A storyboard is a graphical representation of the camera shots in a film sequence which are connected together to create a 'narrative flow'. The story of the film is visualized by a series of drawings which depict the location, characters, props and setting of each shot.  We have around 70 frames, which is a good achievement as Jason said we needed around 80.  
 Why Storyboard?

•  It enables the director to visualise the flow of the camera shots 
• It visualizes the narrative flow 
• We will need to keep in mind set, lighting etc 
• Also I think it is important for my group to have so we know how on track, especially during the production stage of the music video 
• So when changes are made over the process, the original intentions provide a framework against which changes can be judged 

This is the first page of our storyboard. Luckily, Fin is an amazing artist and talented at drawing. As a group we're really happy with how well these came out.

Progress

This week my group have been focusing on producing The Treatment , The Timeline and the storyboard for the music video.

I have included links for the treatment and the timeline, which are finished, and we will have the storyboard completed by next Tuesday.

A treatment is a document that contains all the styling references, icons and set ideas for the music video. It is a chance for the marketing team to give the artist/label a feel for the music video.

A timeline is a layout of our different shots in word form, including shot types, the times of the song and who they are of.

A storyboard is the timeline but in picture form, representing the idea of what we want to see.