Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Mood Board

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to show examples of my use of Pinterested in order to present mood boards. Mood board are sample images to captures ideas and styles which may influence your later work. 


About Pinterested 
"Pinterested is a visual discovery tool that people use to collect ideas for different projects and interests. People create and share their collections (boards) of visual bookmarks (pins)."
Click Here To Access The Home Page
Here is a screen print of my accounts dashboard:


Costume
I made a mood board about costume in order to plan for what my lead actor will be wearing. This can be viewed on the link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/jgrecords/costume/


Church
I made a mood board about the churches in order to plan for what shoots of my location I could shoot. This can be viewed on the link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/jgrecords/church/


Digipack
I made a mood board about digipacks in order to be inspired by others works. This can be viewed on the link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/jgrecords/digipack/


Guitar
I made a mood board about guitars in order to plan for what shoots I could shoot of the actor will the guitar. This can be viewed on the link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/jgrecords/guitar/


Other Mood Boards
Any other mood boards that I create throughout my research tasks can be viewed on this link below:
http://www.pinterest.com/jgrecords/

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Brand Identity

Introduction 
In this blog post I am going to create a brand identity for my company. This will act a sa record label for my artist and help the audience to recognise me. It will allow me to interact with audiences through the use of social networking websites. For example, facebook and twitter. This will allow me to professionally gain feedback in a really quick manner, which is easy for my viewers. All while exploited digital technology to the maximum.  


Name
I have decided to name my record label "JG Records". I created a hotmail addressed called "jg.records@hotmail.com" so that I will be able to set up social networking sites using this. 


About
JG Records will be acting as a small and independent record label, as this is the sort of record label which tends to sign small name bands and artists. The genre's they support will mostly be Indie and Alternative, but occasionally include other genres such as folk and soft rock.    


Logo
I made my logo using photoshop elements 11, which I have experience using due as I also take photography A level. I started of creating a blank canvas and filling it with a bright purple background. 

Next, I added a "text mask" with JG Records typed out. When I moved this it left a white lettering where it had been. I then deleted the mask. Which left me with the text shown to the screen print the right.
Next I decided to add some detailing its terms of a pattern to the background. I decided on the star brush tool. To apply to varied the size and click on where I wanted each star to be
positioned on the background. Next I had to use the select tool in order to make them darker. once I had each star selected I simply went over with a white brush tool which made all the stars a bright white colour which matched the text. As shown in the editing screen print to the right. 


Here is my finished logo!




















Facebook
I created a facebook a page as a way to connect with people and interact with them. Facebook is an online social networking site which allows me wot create a profile, write posts, create polls, posts pictures and videos. Users can interact by commenting and liking on the posts and pictures. Here are some screen prints of the profile I made:



Here is the link to my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/JG-Records/586514758091063


Pinterest
I created a Pinterest account in order to be to mood board online. Pinterest is great for mood boarding as it allows you to group images together. This is a much more modern way of mood boarding which exploits technology. I will include my mood boards in a separate blog post later on this blog. Here is a screen print from my account board:













Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Casting My Leading Actor

Introduction 
On this page I am going to review and discuss my choices of actors and actress for the leading role in my music video. I will decide who is most suited to the role. All images are taken by Me. 


Option 1 
My first option is Colin. He is male and aged 51. Being males is good as I feel the song could be better suited to a males voices. How ever, he does not have any previous acting experience and does not play the guitar which would mean he would have to pretend to play in some scenes. I am also worried that because he is older than my target audience he might appeal to them less than someone who is in there same age range. 


Option 2

My next option is Frankie, who is female and aged 17. As she is a similar age to my target audience this could help them to relate to her, making the song appeal to them more.  However, she also does not play the guitar or sing which would make it difficult when it comes to the scenes involving an acoustic guitar. 


Option 3
Another actor who I could use is Vincent. Vincent is male and aged 18. Vincent has previous acting experience from drama schools. He sings, plays guitar and records his own music. As he is a similar age to my target audience they could relate to him well. 


Option 4
My final option for an actor is Holly. She is 18 and female. She age is right for my target audience. She has previous acting experience due to drama A level and sings. Being a singer would help if I decide to do any lip syncing scenes. However she does not play the guitar, which might make the guitar scenes hard. 


Conclusion
In conclusion I think that I should use Vincent. Vincent has all the characteristics I need in my actor. The only issue I create by choosing him is that I must re-record wedding bells in a male voice. However, this avoids issues with copyright. As Vincent has recording equipment and is a singer and musicians this should not be too hard for us.

Location - Finding a Church

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to researching into and discuss possible ideas for what church I can film in. I will gathers ideas, images and request for permission to film in different locations. The main location that I need is a church, due the narrative revolving around one. Apart for the church I am currently unsure where else I will film.


Location Option One - Hildenborough

Hildenborough church is a large church, which could work either to my advantage or disadvantage. The size of it could help to make the space look eery and lonely. However, I feel it could just end up looking like it was too large for the setting with a small cast. Losing the inmate style of the song. This location would also require me to drive there are is hard to get to via public transport. Hildenborough church also has a lot of technology installed, such a projector screens and speakers, which also I could use if they were in shoot would look ugly and ruin the rustic vibe.  



Location Option Two - Underriver

Underriver church is a really small and immate location. It is a set a rural village. This is a very traditional looking church, with a really beautiful church yard. The outside location is very traditional to due the village setting. Its a really small location which I really I could easily make look full with a church party if I needed to film shoots like that. I would have easy access to this location as it is my local church. 



Location Option Three - Shipbourne

Shipbourne church is very long and thin, which would allow for very drama sweep shoots up and down the long isle. However, overall the church I quite large so I would face similar issue as with  Hildenborough  church. The outside location is very large and set on a hill, which make really unusual and more interesting than my more locations in that respects. 


Location Option Four - Abandoned Church
My fourth location is my most usual, however could be the most interesting. I have be told by one of my media studies class mates of an abandoned church remains in a woodland near Edenbridge. He has visited this before and recommended it to me and a filming locationing. I find that this would be a really drama location to film in. However, it would be hard to church this church and very weather dependant. It will also be hard to find the ownership of the church to seek permission to use it to film on. 


Conclusion
In conclusion I feel that Underriver church would be the best church to film in for a variety of reasons that I have already discussed. I would also like to attempt to find and gain access to film in the abandoned church. However, this may not be possible.  

Permission
I had to email the Underriver church Vicar to check that I could gain permission to film there. 
This is the email I sent:













This was her reply:













I have permission to film in the church! 
The Vicar also mentioned an issue with low light levels in the church which I will need to check pre-filming.  

The abbonned church will take more time to be able to location and gain access too.

Song Choice

Introduction
In this blog post I am going to investigate and discuss my song choice for my music video. I will also look into artistic, the history and the meaning of this song. This will help me gain the widest range of information to give the best possible foundations for my production. 


The Song
My song choice is "Wedding Bells". I chose this song as I liked the light indie style to it. It has a relaxing style, which is complemented by a strong narrative, which are points which my earlier research told me I should look for in a song. The narrative is about about a person who dreams a marrying someone who is already getting married. The storyline develops as the singer goes through different emotions towards their love, and eventually expects that they want them to be happy. 

Here is a studio recording of the song:
Here is a live recording of the song:

The Artist
This version of the song was song was by Lissie, pictured to the right. Lissie is a stage name used by Elisabeth Corrin Maurus. She is an American indie and folk artist born in November 1982.


The History
The song was written and recorded by 1949 by Hank Williams. Hank Williams is a country musician from America. Here is the orginal song:

I feel that Hank and Lissie both put completely different styles on the song and lyrics, each making it their own. 

The Meaning
The of the lyrics at a very basic level is someone watching another person get married, and they are jealous as they wish to be married them. However if you dig deeper into the lyrics there are other emotions. For example, here is a verse:

"Wedding bells are ringing in the chapel,

Ever since the day you set me free,


I knew someday that you would wed another,

But wedding bells will never ring for me"

The second line the singer states the the married person has set them free. This interested me as throughout the rest of the song the lyrics were negative towards being jealous and upset about the matter. The last the lines it appears the singer has come to terms with the fact that the other person have moved on, yet refers back to the earlier sadness of never loving again. 


Audience Feedback on Song
In this section of my blog post I am going to get some people to give a short review on their opinion of Wedding Bells. What I am really looking for here is to see if they pick out the same features of my earlier criteria that I did. Such a relaxing style and meaningful lyrics. In sort to get fast responses, easily share the youtube link to the song, and get the best use of technology I used FaceBook (www.facebook.com). I used my own personal account using my existing facebook friends who range from age 17 - 19. 
Here are my findings:


In conclusion, I am happy that my focus group mentioned the the reasons for the songs that were why I picked it. For example, its meaningful lyrics and relaxing style. I think that the audiences reaction to the song was very good. The only negative comment was that one thought that it suited a males suited better, referring to the original. Depending on who I cast I can record the song, so it may be a males voices.