Rosie Acton - A2 Media

To edit our images to the standard we wanted for our digi-pak we used Adobe PhotoShop to achieve this. We used a range of tools, as shown below, to achieve our designed look.

Additionally we used Photoshop when editing our image for the middle pages of the digi pack. Below are some print screens of how we edited it.

Having used the magic wand tool we used the same saturation bar to brighten up just the flowers.

Similarly to the front cover we used the pencil tool with the low opacity to tint the grass and sky a slightly yellow colour.

Then using the gradient fill tool we did a series of gradient fills from the top right corner in a range of different shapes of the orange to create a sun effect.

(Work by Rosie and Hannah)

Poster:

Above is a video that compares the aspects of our research to aspects of our final poster. As you can see many things were influenced but additionally to this we also had inspiration for other well known images. For example, in the final poster we see the model in a cross-like position. This resembles a few historical images. The most prominent image that comes to mind is that of Jesus Christ on the crucifix.

Jesus Christ is of course a religious figure from the Christian faiths. He is known as God's son and is a very powerful figure. In this picture he is laying down his life to save humans from their sins, being completely selfless and someone who is increasingly pure. we wanted our lead to seem like a pure earth Goddess and so had her take up this pose to portray the pureness we associate with Jesus Christ. We do not mean to liken her to Jesus, just the connotations associated with him. Barthes writes about the difference between denotations and connotations. Jesus Christ's denotation is that he is the son of god sent to save us from our sins but the connotation of him is that of a selfless, supernatural person. It is the connotation associated with this religious figure that we wanted to associate with our model. That she is a pure, selfless, almost supernatural figure.

Additionally to that of Jesus Christ we also believe it can be related to a very famous picture from the Vietnam War. In this picture the girl in the middle is in a similar cross like shape. Here her connotation is that of someone who is innocent and running away from the issues of war. This relates to our poster because of the pose she is in and this reinforces the innocent and pure connotation we have tried to form for our model.,

Digi pack:

Here is a simple video showing the relation between our digi pack and our research. As well researching digi packs we did a lot of other research which effected our digipack.

For example, we did a in-depth section of research in to the Gaia Earth Child. This research taught us that to achieve this kind of look we needed to utilize nature and include typification's such as floral crowns, flowing clothes and neutral make-up. We wanted to extend the idea that the video suggests about the model being happy and at home in the outdoors, green area we see in the final section oft he video. Because of this we used the idea of Gaia Earth Child throughout the digi pack.

Moreover, on the back page of the digi pack we used research we had previously done for the music video on golden hour photography. This is about taking footage at a select hour, either as the sun comes up or as it sets. This technique is normally used to show romantic emotions but we linked it in to show happy and peaceful emotions. We thought we could use it to show these happy and peaceful emotions because romance is often associated with being happy and at peace with someone and we wanted to show that the album and song is a projection of the model/singer being at peace.

Therefore, I could conclude that when making our digi pack we not only utilized research done about real digi packs but that research into media techniques and historical, mythical figures played a massive part in creating our final digi pack and poster.

Music Video:
While making our music video we looked at many different music videos to help us deiced on multiple things.

Our mise en scene was inspired by two main videos. The Verve Video was the main inspiration for our scenes in the urban built up area. After researching this music video we had a much better idea about how to use the unnatural straightness of the buildings to help framing and how to utilize the rule of thirds by using the buildings etc. Below are two gifs, one has scenes form The Verve music video and the other is a collection of scenes from our music video.

The Verve Video

Our Music Video

The second Video that effected our mise en scene was a video by Sinead O'Connor. This video features lots of footage taken in parks and green areas. This helped us plan how to film the scenes with the model in a park-like setting. Additionally, Sinead O'Connor has done a lot of shots with water in them, showing them as reflective surface, These shots helped us film our own water shots as well as a reflective shot in a shop window.
In our own music video we have also linked to ideas around the digi pack and poster by having her constantly touching and being close to the nature in the final section of the video. It links back to idea of the Gaia Earth child as she is then connected to nature.
There are two gif's below to show the similarly filmed scenes in Sinead O'Connor's video and our own.

Sinead O'Conners video

Our Music Video

The most obvious effect used in our music video is the change of black and white to colour to symbolize emotions. While doing research we found a Script song that also has this feature and so we looked into it. While the Scripts video flicks between colour and black and white quick frequently it does has a distinct meaning that involves the emotions. We extended this idea in our own video and were very happy with the outcome. Our feedback made it clear it was probably the most effective piece of editing in the video as many viewers made the link between colour and emotions. Again below is a gif of the Scripts changed in colour as well as a gif of the moment our own music video changed from black and white to colour.

The Scripts Video

Our Music Video

Another element of the music video we had to heavily research was the section of dancing. We had had no experience filming or editing with dancers and having tried and failed to get good footage of them once I did a piece of in-depth research into how professorial dancers are filmed. I looked at multiple different dances and how they were filmed and learnt many things such as the technique to film moving dancers from the direction their moving towards. Without this research we could not have filmed the dancers like we did as we had no idea where to start. Below is a Youtube video of one of the research videos and a gif to show some of the angles we used, showing the similarities to those used in the youtube video.

Finally, linking back to the Jesus Christ figure seen on the poster we finish the video with a very similar shot where the model is once again in a cross shape. I feel that ending the video with such a shot that links so closely to a figure like Jesus Christ ends on a strong and powerful feeling of the deeper meaning behind the video and the song.

In conclusion I would say that after looking at many different pre-existing examples from media today we were able to pick and mix from a range of effects, techniques and general content to help inspire our own music video. Some aspects of our research effected our final video more than others, for example the dance scenes relied heavily on research as it was something we have never tried before. But I would say that every piece of research we did throughout our project was utilized and transferred into our own work.