Stages of designing our poster: Auxiliary Task

We found two pictures that we could possibly use on our poster:

Therefore, we have decided to make designs for both of these pictures and construct them so we can see which is most suited to link to our did-pack and our target audience.

Picture 1:

We decided to include the artists name in the corner of this design, still in the same font we are using for the digi-pak. Taking inspiration from our research, typically the Ellie Goulding research, we have included social networking features on our poster and placed these along the top, possibly on a banner or on the white part of the image.

The album title and record information is on positioned on the left, away from the artist's name which we would have in a larger font. The artist's name and record info would still be in the Book Antiqua font, in capitals to make it punchy. 

A different font would be used for the 'IN STORES NOW' part of the poster as this has to stand out from the rather busy image and capture the attention of the listener. 





This second design using this image is slightly different. The IN STORES NOW is now on the top of the page whilst the artist's name is at the bottom of the page. 

Although we like this idea, this may be problematic as the text may not appear clear on such a busy background. The album name and the record information are centrally positioned, something we are not overly keen on as a group as we feel it would be better suited in a corner, possibly the left hand side. 

The social networking feature copies that of our research and is placed at the bottom of the design in the rule of thirds.    

This design is by far our favourite. The artist's name is positioned in the right top hand corner and using our chosen font, Ancestry SF, the name will look like the artist has signed the poster- especially when rotated to a slant. 

The social networking feature is placed on the top of the page, obeying the rule of thirds. This design is further balanced as the album title and record information are placed on the left. 

The IN STORES NOW is to be placed along the bottom as this balances the whole image out. 








This final design is our least favourite as extremely blocky. We dislike this as we feel the poster and the digi-pak must reflect the genre of the music which is indie folk and this design is too restricted for this genre. 

Picture 2:

This design is by far our most favourite design and one we shall be using. The font will be consistent with the digi-pak, Ancestry SF and Book Antiqua. The artist's name will be placed across the image which may be problematic in this design as the model's hair may cause the text to be unclear. The Album title is in the top right hand corner, positioned along the top of the page. The album information and social networking is at the bottom of the page which balances out the poster and obeys the rule of thirds.  

This design is slightly different as incorporates the banner, as seen in the demi lovato poster. The only issue with this design is that it may be considered too similar to the Demi poster although a different image and font. The album name, artist's name and record information is all centrally placed on the banner. This may cause some unused white space which may make the poster seem uncompleted. This design does not have any social networking features either. 

This design still uses the white banner at the bottom of the page . This design makes more use of the space and places a gradient fill, which matches our digi-pak, on the banner. This will make the design fuller. The album name, artist's name and the record information is centred on this design too. The social networking features are not featured here. 














This final design is unlike any of our research as features a side banner and the album name placed vertically up the side. The artist's name is also placed on a slant to mirror the idea that the artist would have signed the poster. This positioning may cause issues as placed very close to the model's head and in her hair which may be hard to read. 

We will use these designs to enforce and inspire our final product. We have decided to use the third design of the first image and the first design of the second image to create our poster. We are unsure which photo we are actually going to select to believe it be best to try both and see which we prefer. If we were to use the first image we would take inspiration from the research and match the font colour with the colour of the model's lips and hair as well as the greenry. If we select the second image we shall be using a brown front to match the model's hair. 



(Designs: Rosie and Katie; Analysis: Hannah) 

Stages of planning the front cover: Auxiliary tasks

After deciding to use this picture as our front cover photo:

In order to gain the bets possible front cover, we designed multiple pictures which we could use as the final product layout:

This design features the title of the album being written down the side of the CD and the artists name being written along the bottom of to balance out the writing. The picture has been cropped so that it will primarily be on the right hand side of the cover

After looking at our research, particularly focusing on the artist of our song, Birdy, we designed a cover which just features the artists name as the title of the album as well. This would enable the model's face to take up more of the cover and would not cover her face as much. Like the first design, the picture has been cropped so that the model's face is more on the right hand side.

There is also the option of having the album title in a semi-circle above the model's head and the artists name is down the bottom of the cover. The model is more centered for this cover as this fits more with the placing of the font.

This design is a close-up of the model's face which is more on the left-hand side. The album title is featured above the model's head and the artists name being down in the right hand corner to balance out the design.

This is a simplistic design, typical of most of our research, which would fit well with the simplistic idea we are going for with our model. The model is centered here, with the artists name being placed above the model's head whilst the album title is placed at the bottom of the cover.  

(designs rosie - writing katie)

Font Research: Auxiliary Tasks

 We tested a range of fonts for our font on the auxiliary task. We decided on a decorative font for the artist's name and a more structured, rigid font for the song title. We used Ancestry SF for the artist's name and Book Antiqua for the song title. We also added a brown fill to the back of the text and changed the text colour to white. We also added a line under 'Birdy' and changed this feature to a feather appearance. This is our final font. 

Steps to designing our CD: Auxiliary task

Poster Hang Drawn Designs: Auxiliary Task

This is the hand drawn design for our poster.
Our plan is to us a gradient fill from the bottom right corner upwards. The colour we will do this in is going to be the same brown seen through our CD and inside digipack pages. We plan to do this to link our digi pack to our poster. We plan to do the models make up very similar to that seen in the video and the two writing fonts will be pulled across from the digipack.
The main inspiration for our poster was the Demi Lovato research poster we looked at. However, we have used other techniques such as the gradient fill so that our poster follows the soft, earth goddess concept we are going for throughout our coursework project.
We also plan to use bright natural light in the top left corner so that it can links to the rest of our project further as bright natural light and how it bleeds through objects can be seen a lot in our video and digipack.

(Hand designs and work done by Rosie)

Digipack Hand Drawn Designs: Auxiliary Task

This is the Hand Drawn design of the front cover of the our digipack.
Throughout our digipack we are planning two have only two fonts used. We are in the process of finding a very decorative font to use on the artists name and a much more rigid font for the album title. The album title will also all be in capitals.
We are also currently trying to design a embellishment to be involved on the line underneath the artists name.
Another element to this front cover is gradient fill we are planning to put only on the back ground. We want to made the gradient fill in the top half of the picture and make it white to add to the effect of natural light. To do this without effecting the model we will need to use layers and cut the model out of the first layer and place them on a second layer and only put the gradient fill on the first layer.
The inspiration for our front cover came mostly from the Dido cover we looked at in our research. For example the use of light and gradient fills can be seen in the Dido cover.

This is the design for the inside of our digipack.
This is the most open to change as we begin to shoot for the inside cover. We know that we want to use aspects of the sun that can be seen in the Ben Howard inside cover we looked at in our research.
Obviously the whole picture could be very different as we start to shoot as we can garentee we will find a perfect setting with a large tree for the sun to bleed through with smaller yet still elegant flowers near by to have in our foreground. Because of this we accept that the final photo we use may be quite a bit different from this plan.
 However the editing will stay the same. We plan use a large photo for both sides of the inside page but on the right hand side that holds the CD we want to use a gradient fill of the same brown colour we will use for the CD.

This is the Design for our CD. While this is designed around our research we did we have also thought of a lot of the design ourselves.
Our research showed us that when creating minimalist CD designs it is crucial to balance decorative with rigid aspects. Because of this we have balanced out the decorative texts with a decorative symbol on the bottom half of the CD.
Additionally to this our research showed us that it isn't uncommon to have the copyright declaration going the whole way around the outside  of the CD in much smaller writing. We have cooperated this into our designs.
Furthermore, we want to link our CD to the rest of the digipack and the poster so as well as using the same fonts the whole way through we are also going to use a gradient fill on the CD. However the gradient fill we plan to use is a radial gradient fill that goes the whole way round the edge changing the dark earth brown of the CD to white on the outer ring.

This is the back cover of our digipack. The main inspiration for this back cover is the Ben Howard back cover. While his uses the golden hour over a field with sheeps we want to use it over a natural landscape but have most of the picture taken up by the sky.
The text for this side is inspired by the back cover of Didos digipack. She had her numbers and song titles different colours and we want to do something similar but change the fonts. By having the numbers the decorative font and the song titles the rigid font.
The only other feature on this back cover is the barcode. We have not used up all the space on the back cover because we want it to follow the minimalistic vibe introduced by the rest of the digipack.






(Designs and work here done by Rosie)

Digipack Photo-shoot 1

After conducting our digipack research, we decided upon the look we wanted to achieve for our CD front cover. In the research we conducted, we were inspired by a number of things which enabled us to produce our final look.

For instance, from our research we established we wanted to photograph mainly/ only mid-shots and close up shots for the CD front cover, as this was a regular occurrence.

Also, we liked the use of natural lighting in Dido image shown below:

We felt the idea of peace and tranquillity of the outdoors mimicked/ represented the music genre in the way it is presented to its target audience.

Out of the shots we took there were 4 predominant poses/looks:

We were happy with the look of our model, but we had to rethink the backdrop- the dead trees give the images a sinister look, something we felt contrasted the look we were hoping to achieve.

Because of this we had considered and decided upon shooting in a different, greener area or our second photo-shoot.

Thinking about the locations we have utilized already, we decided to take the second shoot in Hall Place:

The estate has beautiful grounds which would give us the ‘greener’ backdrop we desire.

(Research done by Danielle)

Plans for our Auxiliary Task

After looking at the research, we have decided that our model will have a simplistic, "earthy" feel to her as this will link well with our video. To ensure that we get this feel to the digipack and the magazine poster, we have made some decisions about the mis-en-scene. 

For the make-up, we felt that having a simplistic make-up which conforms to our research. Our model has extremely blue eyes, which are her main feature which we want to exploit. We plan on having a light brown eyeshadow with minimal framing to provide definition which will make them more noticeable in images. We will have natural lips and will keep her overall skin tone as pale as possible to match the Gaia child research. As our model has a heartshaped face, we will be adding a pale blusher to frame her cheeks and add definition. A natural eyebrow will also be used.    

The model's hair will be kept natural and curly as we feel this will work well with the natural, simplistic look we are going for. By using the natural light as well, this will also add a halo-like effect to the model when the sun hits her hair. We are aiming to make the hair look 'fluffy' to ensure this halo effect can be achieved. The model herself has extremely curly hair so this will require minimal styling




In order to make the model look even more, earthy and correspond to our Gaia earth research, we have decided to have a floral garland headband in the model's hair which will also match the one we used in our music video. We aim to select a daintier form of floral headband to ensure the model looks delicate.  












For the model's outfit, we plan to have the model dressed in a flowy white, 3/4 sleeved top. We feel that this will link well to the video and maintain the simplistic and pure effect that we gained in the video by using the white dress. The dress that we use for the music video, or a floral based dress, may be used as well if we decided to do a long shot. 

This is the look we are trying to achieve.








Front Cover:
After looking at our research, we have decided that a close-up shot of the model's face will be the best shot to use for our front cover. 

Inside Picture:
The inside picture will be a long shot of the model, and this is where we will use the dress from our music video.

CD:
The CD itself will remain plain as this is most like the research we have looked and we feel this will link well with the simplicity of our other ancillary tasks.

Back:
The back is going to be a mid-shot of the model, however we plan to have the model turning away slightly from the camera in order for the sun to capture her portrait.

Poster:
The poster will feature a mid-shot of the model, most like from her chest/shoulders upwards as this fits well with the research we have looked at. We still have to plan what colour and what type of font and the general lay-out of the poster.

For all of our ancillary tasks, we plan to use the natural light again like we did in our music music video and have the model standing outside sort of interacting with some form of nature as this will link to our overall "earthy" look we wish to have. 




(Research by Hannah)

Update on Progress

After the Christmas holidays we have got together and looked at what we still need to do. We have been set some deadlines by our teachers which are as follows.

End of January - We must have completed our first full draft of our music video. This will not be finished and may need some re-shooting and more editing in places but will have the bulk of the video and will have no gaps, running smoothly.
End of February - We must have completed our final draft. There maybe time to go back and iron out a few issues after we have finished everything else but the idea is that by the start of March we must have moved onto the auxiliary tasks.
End of March - We must have finished the auxiliary tasks in full.
End of April - During April we will do the evaluation questions, and depending on how quickly we get them finished we will go back to our music video and iron out any little problems. However, by the end of April we must have finished the entirety of our coursework and have handed it all in.

Also at this group meeting we arranged a few more filming sessions in the up and coming weeks.

Changing The Leads Outfit

Originally we envisioned the lead wearing a white skaters dress, a black bowler hat and coat, and a red scarf. 

However, having gone to the pier and started filming we started to find a few issues. 

Above is a picture from out first filming session, as you can see the coat looks too bulky and goes against the sleek, smooth, feminine, angelic look we were going for. Because of this we had to review what we had chosen as clothes. 

Despite the cold weather, we decided to remove the coat while we filmed for the second time as well as changing her shoes from clumpy books to light weight canvas shoes. 

Below is her final look. You can see we have removed the coat and the light weight shoes. We think this really helps us achieve the more feminine look we were aiming for. 

As we are filming outside, on a windy pier in the middle of winter we make sure we always have someone there with extra layers of clothes for the model to warm up in between shots. 

Steadicam Research

This is some research that Hannah has done. I have put into a prezi. From this research we now feel that have a found a way around the problem we were having with shaking while filming,

Research about how to film Contemporary Dance

Alleviate.
Alleviate are a dance duo from the show Got to Dance. They did contemporary dance very similar to the type we are going to be doing. Things we have seen from looking at how they have been filmed includes the way that the camera tracks her as she runs across the stage. Furthermore, when they are both moving in the same direction the camera with cut to a shot where the dancers are moving towards them. Another technique we can see being used is having a very close up shot on a intimate moment followed by a shot from a large distance, as if the camera doesn't want to intrude on the moment. 

Billy & Kathryn.
Billy & Kathryn were also on a television show designed o showcase different types of dancing. In there dance the camera started by circling them, this is done because the dance starts with a intimate m moment. In this piece the camera also follows him and has very close up moments during a moments stillness in the dance followed by a much wider shot. During the final sequence of the dance we see the camera cut further and further away from them. I believe this is done to show the camera retracting from watching. 

Natalli and Vincent.
During this dance the main technique used are the way the camera shots to make her seem like the dominant, larger figure over him. This is done by camera shots and clever setting of the dance. Another aspect of filming that is looked at during this dance that it is not looked at in nay of the others we have looked at is the idea that the camera acts as if it can feel what the pair are doing too. For example, when she pushes him the camera tilts to show the dizzy effect he is feeling at the time.

Research for Type of shot

Having done this research we now feel more confident about the types of shots we want to use within our music video. We plan to use Point of views at the beginning of our music video as well as at odd moments within the middle and ending sections. We thing a pan shot would be good but hard to do so if we can find a good way to do it with the resources we have to we hand we will use it during the final sequences. The same goes for tracking shots as we only have certain equipment at our disposal but it would definitely help our look if we could work it in somehow. 

(Research by Katie)

Research about lighting a outside shot

As we plan to film outside having electric lights up would impossible and impractical. Because of this we have looked into the other ways and how to use natural light to our advantage.

Planning our Costumes, Make-up and Props