Evaluation: 4) D - How did you use media technologies in the evaluation stages?

Technology was a crucial usage throughout the evaluation stages of this coursework. Firstly, the main use of technology was in the form of Blogspot, in order to present my findings and my evaluation in a clear and coherent form. This was a relatively straightforward process as it is the medium we have used and become incredibly familiar with over the duration of the coursework period, and we also used it as the medium for presenting our AS coursework in much the same manner, so it was a programme I knew well. It allows you to display information in a wide variety of formats and structures, therefore was incredibly useful for the wide range of media and research involved in this project.

We used a camcorder again to film audience feedback, in order to allow us to evaluate upon this and consider the success of our product. This also allowed us to make any relevant amendments to our product that were needed in order to create the best overall product we could. We also used Kuda's blackberry camera as an alternative when there were no other cameras available. Although this meant a suffering in quality, we ruled that this wasn't too important as it was the content that mattered most, which was still fully accessible. We collated these clips using iMovie, which allowed us then to edit the footage together to review it, so we could then upload it onto YouTube, and embed the video in our blogs. This meant that we would have a point of reference when discussing the feedback we have received during evaluation question 3, and improved the variety of media content on our blogs.

Evaluation: 3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

The reception of audience feedback is a crucial and fundamental part of the construction process for any form of media, but particularly one where the main premise of the product is to serve as a promotional marketing tool. If this were a real life media product, and we failed to gain any feedback in any form before releasing it as a finished product, it would set up a massive danger for us in that we would not be able to tell if it would be well received with our intended target audience, and thus if it would serve it's purpose as part of a promotional package for a band or artist. If we took this risk, and the product did not go down well, this could potentially be damaging for the artist who would have that reputation attached to the rest of their musical career, as well as causing a negative impact on their selling potential.

However, if we were to gain audience feedback in various stages and formats throughout the whole project, this would allow us to reflect and re-evaluate our product at each stage, ensuring we end up creating the best overall product that we possibly could have done. It would also serve to highlight to us any minor flaws or blips in the products that we missed, allowing us to make any appropriate amendments in suitable time before the finished products must be handed in, fine tuning it to create overall professional real media products.

One of the first ways in which we gained feedback was through the initial target audience questionnaire at the beginning of the project. This allowed us to pitch our rough ideas for our video to our target audience, and to receive feedback in terms of their opinions on our plans. Receiving feedback at this stage let us sample how successful the concept would be in theory, giving us plenty of time to refine the idea before we began filming. Luckily, most of the feedback we received at this stage was fairly positive. This told us that we were on the right track with our products, and allowed us to continue developing our ideas safe in the knowledge that the basic premise would be relatively successful and well received.

One piece of negative feedback that we received for the music video at this stage was that the plot line seemed quite unclear so far. We felt this was a fair enough comment, as we were not entirely sure what we were aiming for or hoping to achieve at that point, so we took this on board as constructive criticism, ironing out a basic comprehensible plot line and and narrative to make the video easier to follow.

We were constantly asking members of our media group for feedback throughout the entire editing process of our video - for example asking their opinions on certain shots, transitions or effects, which we could then reflect upon and take on board on the spot. This active involvement with the target audience allowed us to constantly be working to improve our products throughout the whole process. Once we had finished a rough cut of our final music video, we devised a shot questionnaire to assess the success of our product. We asked a number of participants from different age ranges and genders to feedback their opinions of the product, which allowed us to see if there were any final improvements we could make to ensure we created the best product we could. Some of the positive feedback we received at this stage included liking the way the representations of the conventions of the genre, as well as a certain level of empathy with the characters. This showed us that we had the right ideas in the creation of our video, and had succeeded in the representations we had hoped to convey.

We also asked for constructive criticism, asking if there was anything we could improve upon before we finalised our video and burnt off a copy. Some of the feedback we received in relation to this was concerning the rapid editing prior to the first flashback scene. We agreed with this comment, but we didn't think there wast anything that we could do to change it without causing a major hole in the plot of our narrative. We did however, go back over our previous clips to see if there were any possible improvements that could be made. This was incredibly beneficial to us as we did actually discover a clip that we could use in place of the poorer quality shots we already had, therefore improving upon the overall visual fluidity of our video.

These are some of the questions we pitched to our audience in order to gain clear feedback on our roughly finished video:

• Do you understand the narrative of the music video?
• Do you think the video is conventional of the genre?
• Was there anything you did not like?
• What could we do to improve upon this?
• Do you think the editing of the video matched the pace of the song?
• Do you like the various effects used in the video?
  
  This was some of the feedback we received from these questions:

In addition to the feedback for the music video, we thought it would be beneficial to gain a number of feedback concerning the ancillary texts. Initially, we showed rough sketches of our ideas to members of our target audience, who pointed out sections they liked - including the fact that the cover defied conventions by being from behind, and the cohesion of the costume and mise-en-scene in line with the musical genre. This showed us that we did not have to change anything in this respect as we were clearly on track with conveying the ideas about our genre and impressions.

Some negative feedback we received at this stage was that they did not seem to like the writing on the arm that we intended to use as the text style on our CD cover. We took this on board and started to plan different styles in which we could incorporate this onto our CD cover in a more visually pleasing manner.

These are some of the questions we asked for the evaluation of these products:

• Can you see synergy between the video and the ancillary texts?
• Do you think these texts fit the generic styles and conventions of real media products?
• Do you find these texts to be visually appealing?

Evaluation: 2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I feel that the combination of our main product of the music video and our ancillary texts in the form of a CD package and a magazine advert is fairly effective and that we have succeeded in creating a cohesive set of products. I feel that there are clear links between all three of the products, and I don't find anything to be particularly stand out or conflicting about them - I feel that the products fit and work together quite well.

The images that we selected for use in the CD booklet and on the magazine advert were all taken whilst filming, thereby creating obvious links with the mise-en-scene for the video and the images - this ensured that the characters were dressed in the same outfits and had the same appearance as they would have done in the video. This creates an immediate visual link between all three products, as the audience will be able to identify the character as a recurring visual theme across the three media sources. This approach also allowed for a recurring theme of the locations across the three products, as they were all shot at the same time, in the same park. Additionally, the key manipulation of natural light to heighten the romanticism and jubilance that is represented in the flashback scenes is cohesive with the images taken of the girl posing in the park. Both of these ideas are used to play to the conventional generic features that are so often associated with this musical style, such as that of nature, youth and innocence - In the music video, the bright sunlight implies connotations of vibrancy and warmth, whereas in the ancillary texts it is used is such a way as to make the products more visually appealing, playing on the convention of the pretty, young female artist.

Two of the images used in our CD packaging are sourced directly from the narrative itself. On of these images is used as the back cover, which is a shot of the couple sat on a bench, back-lit by the sun to create silhouettes, thereby elevating the conventional sentimental value expressed in the flashback scenes of the video. This images could also be seen as representative of the idea of unconventionality that we aimed for with our video - the images is framed slightly off center, with the bench weighted more towards the left hand side rather than the more predictable or expected positioning of the centre of the frame. Conventionally, the 'standard' positioning may be used in order to make the female actor the centre of the frame, and therefore the central focus of the image, emphasising her stance of authority and implying a possible sense of power, as well as working as a marketing tool to draw more attention to the artist, in order to create familiarity and intimacy. By alternating this typical positioning, we are in some ways undermining this representation, suggesting that the artist is slightly off the edge, potentially creating a marketing point of an off-centre, slightly unconventional style which could become the unique selling point of our artist - it harmonizes with the the more conventional approach of the ancillary texts, which perhaps serves to add extra dynamic to the image and therefore the artist herself. However, this representation of central focus is still somewhat adhered to in this image in the way that the female actor is actually more visible in the off-centre position that the male actor, who is sat more centrally and is less visible due to being silhouetted by the sunlight. This is synonymous with the approach we have taken in our video, by sticking loosely to generic conventions and ideas, but representing them in a more unconventional style, which would still be recognised as being specific to and belonging to a certain musical style.

The second image we used that draws direct influence from the narrative is the inlay shot of the scrabble tiles. Although we cannot see the whole number of tiles, these letters actually spell out 'More Than Friends', thereby creating obvious synergy with the narrative of the video in the playing of scrabble, as well as with the title of the song. The idea of scrabble is a visual motif that is additionally repeated as a form of typeface across the two ancillary texts - the individual tiles were made to spell out 'Gabrielle Aplin', which we then arranged in the editing stages to use as the artists name or logo for the CD cover, and subsequently the advert - we felt it was important that at least one of the textual styles used on the cover of the artwork was directly repeated onto the magazine advert to enforce an obvious visual link between the two. This creates cohesion with the genre style, as well as establishing evident synergy between all 3 products.

The typeface used for the album name on the CD cover, and for the most important information on the magazine advert is written in a similar, cursive handwritten style, as is a common generic feature of the genre. Although I don't think two fonts are exactly the same, which would have been the most ideal, they are extremely similar in style so serve the same purpose of adhering to conventions and creating a link between the two products.

The synergy between the main product and the ancillary texts is emphasised in the CD booklet, where we have included a lyrics page for the song we used for our video. This creates an obvious link with the video, allowing the audience to learn the lyrics to the song, increasing familiarity and therefore the selling potential.

Whilst we felt it important to establish a number of evident links between the three products, we also considered it just as important to have a small element of difference between them in order to establish each product as individual in it's own right, thereby adding more power and authority to 3 products separately, as opposed to replying on the side-by-side combination of the three together to sell the product. One of the main ways in which we conveyed this is through the use of the guitar as a prop. It is not featured often throughout the video - in fact I think in the final video cut it is only shown once, but in that one clip it is portrayed as being significant enough, and of a personal value to the girl - this is demonstrated when the guy kicks it over after leaping out of bed in frustration. This perhaps implies that he wants to express his anger or inner annoyances with her belongings of great importance to her, or alternatively that the guitar has in some manner been a source of irritation prior to the time frame of the narrative. In this sense, there could be seen to be a visual link here, in that the guitar is a prop used in the video, however it is less of a straightforward and immediately recognisable link that other examples may be. It could perhaps be better linked in with the song itself, as the audience would recognise the instrument as being in line with the music and the song as opposed to the visual content of the video.

Overall, I feel that the three media products work well together, both harmonising and contrasting each other in part. There are obvious links between all three products, and none seem particularly unusual, but additionally each product serves to stand as a promotional tool in it's own right.

Evaluation: 1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Overall, I would say that there is an effective mix of conventions across our finished media products, both in terms of adhering to conventions and avoiding them in places. I think that the majority of the technical aspects we have used have been fairly conventional of real media products, as well as products of this genre, whereas the themes and content of our narrative takes a much more unconventional approach.


MUSIC VIDEO:

I think our music video for the most part challenges the forms and conventions both a a typical video, and particularly for a video belonging to this particular genre of music. One of the main ways in which I feel it is portrayed in an unconventional form is that structure of the music video consists entirely of narrative. This is quite an uncommon approach to music videos as there is usually at least a slight performance element about the video, in order to portray the appealing live aspect of the artist, as well as showing them in more direct association with the visual interpretation of the track - this creates familiarity with the audience, and established the image of the band or artist with the audience. However, we chose not to take a performance approach, as we did not know the artist personally, and therefore did not want to cheapen the effect of the video by using a substitute singer. I feel this was fairly effective in making our video more unconventional, as is set the video apart from the typical expectations of the product and genre. This could potentially have positive implications on the artist in the long run, as it is very easy to become 'samey' in this sort of genre, and therefore any alternative methods which serve to distinguish the artist from the rest of the crowd are likely to be embraced rather than rejected.#

Another manner in which we served to make the music video unconventional was through the use of the content of the narrative. Typically in this sort of genre, the narrative would be expected to consists of a typical love story, perhaps the whole boy meets girl cliché. The relationship within the typical narrative would tend to be of a more idyllic nature, likely to be representative of perfection, flawlessness - a similar convention to films, adhering to the audience by making them connect with the aspects of love, longing and desire. Our narrative however put a completely different spin on this typical portrayal, indicating the relationship and dismal and crumbling as opposed to perfect and desirable. I feel this worked in our favour, elevating the feeling of realism we were hoping to convey, thereby making the product much more relatable to our intended target audience than perhaps the traditionalist, worn conventions may be. In doing this however, I feel it may potentially have had a slight negative impact on the song - our narrative plays on these typical portrayals and skews them in a humerus and slightly satirical light, which slightly undermines the lyrics value of the song. Typically, songs from this sort of genre are written from quite a personal and heart-felt level, so potentially challenging the conventions in this manner would be detrimental to the impact or message the lyrics were representative of.

In terms of representation of character, we took a fairly unconventional viewpoint in this - having seen a number of videos from this kind of genre previously, we were aware of the typical representations of the characters in narratives of this sort, including the gentlemanly, dominant male, with the almost princess-like representation of the 'precious' female. We chose to defy these conventions, in order to create comedic effect and to make a video of a less conventional format. Our male actor was portrayed as being a little more on the soft, 'dopey' side as opposed to the gallant, chivalrous hunter-gatherer. We originally intended to portray the female actor as fairly feisty and cold, but I don't think this is an effect that has necessarily transgressed as well as it could have done. Representation was also key in terms of the characters style, as dress and image was important to convey the ideas about the genre and the artist. Overall, Beth dressed in a fairly typical style, in portrayal of the genre, whereas Oscar was shown to be fairly unconventional and not belonging to any particular fashion or style, serving to emphasise the separation between the two.

Alternatively, the video can be see to adhere to many conventions of the typical music video, and conventions of this genre. We used a range of editing varieties to convey meaning, such as flash backs and fades, all of which can be found in real media products. Many of our technological aspects in this stage could be seen as fairly typical of both form and genre - we very much wanted to portray a strong relationship between the music and the visuals, even if the content was not the most typical match. To do this, we edited the footage to fit in time with the song, as is a frequent feature throughout real media products such as this. Many of the camera angles and movements were fairly typical examples of this. Additionally the use of lighting to create a romantic atmosphere in the initial flashback scenes was inspired directly from visuals fitting to this sort of genre, and could therefore be seen as a convention in our product. We aimed to utilise a number of conventions of the genre in the flashback scenes in order to imply the connotations of warmth and happiness that are generally associated with the genre, linking with the theme of the visuals.

ANCILLARY TEXTS:

Our ancillary texts could be seen as much more conventional and representative of the artist and the genre. They obey typical forms and structures as expected of real media products - for example, the CD packaging contains a booklet including song lyrics, the back cover contains information relating to copyright and various other legal information. Additionally, the magazine advert contains relevant information concerning the release date of the album and reviews, all of which are typical expected features of this sort of form which overall combines to create the feeling that this is a real media product.

The use of colour and editing in these two products was highly conventional, I feel. Typically, images from this sort of genre tend to be fairly natural and unedited, which was a feeling that we knew we wanted to convey in our ancillary products. We used only slight amounts of editing, merely to bring out colourings to convey a sense of brightness and warmth. This ensured that the overall impression of the images remained very natural and promoted the desirable sense of realism and relatability that we wanted to convey with our product.

These ancillary texts could also be viewed as unconventional of sorts, again going back to the basic idea that we did not want to have somebody pretending to be the artist due to the overall cheapening and slightly tacky effect we felt this would have. To avoid this sort of representation, we used images of the actor from behind, in order to convey the typical ideas of the pretty, young girl, but not to imply her being the artist. This approach also serves to add an element of mystery and enigma to our product that works to distinguish it from other products in this genre.

Evaluation: 4) C - How did you use media technologies in the construction stages?

MUSIC VIDEO:

Technology was a crucial part of the process during the construction stages. Firstly, we used digital camcorders to capture the shots we required, using 3 separate cameras to allow each member of the group to control one. This allowed us to not only film the main shots that we had intended and planned on the storyboard, but additionally provided us with extra shots of the same footage from different angles and viewpoint - this was effective as it meant we saved time by not having to repeat the same action a thousand times in order to capture all of the necessary angles and footage we required, and it also proved to be a useful technique in the editing stages, allowing us a wide choice of footage to select from. This turned out to be incredibly helpful, as not all of the shots we had captured from the 'main' viewpoint - that which we had planned on the storyboard, ad turned out in the way which we had envisioned them. Luckily, this provided us with the opportunity to substitute clips of the same action, but from a different perspective, without dramatically affecting or ruining the running narrative. The cameras were one of the main problems in the construction stage, due to the fact that we had learnt from last year the importance of being quite thorough in shooting our footage, therefore requiring prolonged periods of filming. This evidently made for trouble with the cameras, as their battery life was not sufficient enough for the extensive filming we had hoped for, however this was resolved fairly easily by the fact that we had multiple cameras, and therefore we were still able to capture all of the footage that we needed.

While our usage of camera in our coursework last year was fairly basic and simplistic, we decided to be more adventurous in our use of camera this year. We chose to experiment with different effects and uses of the camera in order to achieve different visual styles. One of the main effects we had hoped to achieve through the use of camera was that of the conventional focus shift, allowing the two character to be together in the frame, but causing one of them to be blurred and out of focus, whilst the other is clear to the camera. We felt this technique would be effective in our portrayal of the distance between the two, perhaps insinuating the blur that their relationship has become. However unfortunately, this was a technique that we could not seem to be able to create, and therefore we found alternative means and manners in which to convey this idea of separation between the two characters.

From our AS coursework last year, we had learned the importance of using a tripod in our construction stages in order to stabilise the shots and reduce hand shake which can have an abrupt and unsettling affect on the audience, not allowing for ease of viewing. Unfortunately, this was an idea that worked more in theory than in practise, as we were only able to borrow one tripod, meaning the other two camera's had find a different source to steady them. This meant that when the original stable clip was ruled unsuitable and unusable in our video, many of our alternative substitute clips were of a less stable and perhaps even less professional execution. Fortunately we were able to overcome most of this through the use of editing, cutting out any wobbles or shakes that had a major affect on the ease of viewing and the flow of our visuals, however this was unfortunately unavoidable in some places.

In preparation for the filming days, I purchase a pack of 5 mini-DV tapes, which allowed us to have one per camera, and 2 extras should we encounter any problems with the original tapes. We found very little problem with these, as we were all familiar in how to use them due to our coursework from the year before. We had learnt from last year's experience that it was beneficial to wind the tape on for a few seconds at the beginning in order to prevent a loss of visual quality should the beginning of the tape start to become damaged in any way. This meant that we would not loose any of our shots, or sacrifice the original quality of them in any way. We had also learnt not to excessively and continually rewind the tapes for replay, again so as to not sacrifice any of the original visual quality. However, we did recognise the importance of reviewing the shots we had already taken as demonstrated through the troubles we faces in the filming process last year, when we did not review the shots we had taken and therefore did not know how they had turned out and if they needed to be re-shot, which led to problems at the editing stages. This year however, we did take one or two opportunities to rewind and review the shots we had taken up to that point, allowing us to see if any shots needed to be redone.

In the editing process, we used a Firewire to import the footage we had filmed from each individual tape, uploading it into iMovie. We had grown incredibly accustomed with this programme through the AS coursework, and so we were able to navigate the software itself with relative ease. Our group found a number of small complications during this process, but we were able to overcome these fairly quickly with the help of other members of other groups. We each broadened our knowledge of the programme, using it to a much bigger potential than the fairly basic approach we chose to take last year. This year, we experimented with a range of effects in order to create the desired impression, such as editing the flashback scenes to a slightly more sepia colour, creating connotations of warmth and happiness, whilst clearly distinguishing the scenes from the modern day narrative. We encountered some problems at this stage regarding the quality of the footage we had captured - for example in the flashback scene of the couple playing scrabble, our use of low-key lighting to create a romantic atmosphere had not turned out to be the most effective, and therefore the shots we were left with were fairly dark and poor in quality. Unfortunately, almost all of our shots from this part of the narrative had turned out in pretty much the same manner, however we were able to resolve this slightly in the editing stages by changing the brightness and contrast of the clips.



ANCILLARY TEXTS:

We used a digital still camera throughout the entire construction process, in order to document the process in the form of production stills showing our group in the act of filming. It's main usage however was for the various photo shoots for the images for our ancillary texts. We captured each picture shooting mainly for the image as opposed to the effects that could be added during the editing stages. We felt that this was important as we wanted to emphasise the conventional naturalistic themes that are often associated with the indie / folk genre. I personally feel that this was an effective approach to take, as it meant that the editing stage would merely be for enhancement to bring out the full potential of the image, as opposed to creating a much more constructed, computer graphical image that we did not feel would be at all in fitting with this particular genre, and therefore not at all reflective of the music in any way.

We spent the day at the i-City Learning Centre in Horfield working on the construction of our ancillary products. We had already prepared the images that we intended to use in our products, and stored them on a USB in order to transport them with us for use on this day. As a back up, in case anything happened to the images on my USB, I emailed the images to myself as attachments, meaning that if we encountered any problems with the memory stick, we would still be able to access the images to work on.

We were given a brief introduction to Photoshop elements, helping us to get acquainted with the software, and given an indication of how to achieve certain effects. Although this was useful to us in order to help us familiarise ourselves with the programme, this was not particularly adhered to in our group, and we had always intended to keep editing to a minimum to emphasise the idea of naturalism and innocence synonymous with both the genre and the artist.

We experimented again with the brightness and contrast tool, in order to enhance the image slightly and accentuate the colours, in line with the generic conventions. We cropped the images to fit to the size of the template provided for us, which was significantly smaller than the size of our original images. This allowed for some creativity in the framing and composition of the images that we had perhaps not devoted enough attention to when capturing them.

Editing Diary: 6

We have finally completed the construction of our music video, using today's lesson to add all the finishing touches.

Firstly, we decided to make the modern day and the flashback scenes more distinguishable by adding a Sepia effect to the flashbacks. Whilst creating a visible difference between the two timescales, it also serves to emphasis the elements of romanticism, accentuating the use of bright colours and the connotations of happiness and warmth we were aiming to portray. Originally, we had envisioned used the vintage film effect, giving an almost home movie style to the flashbacks, enforcing a feeling of reminiscence and nostalgia. However in practise, the iMovie effect was not in line with what we had imagined, so we decided to take a different approach instead.

The sepia effect also proved to come in useful in the earlier flashback scenes of the Scrabble playing, as it made the lighting seem more natural and overall enhanced the poor lighting. This also allowed us to slightly increase the brightness and contrast of these clips, making them more visible and defined, whilst not causing any suffering to the overall visual quality of the images.

We additionally wanted to represent the flashbacks in a more obvious way, in order to create cohesion between our product and the audience, as we found that this could often be confusing when we showed the video in various stages of completion to members of our target audience. We had hoped to do this in the conventional way of a short, clear flash effect, however, when experimenting with this effect on iMovie, we found that our clips were to sure to apply the effect to, and therefore had to find an alternative. We experimented with the overlapping effect, blending the two images together in one frame, however again as the clip was fairly short, it created a freeze frame at the end of the transition, which disrupted the smooth, flowing visuals of the video and created a really obvious jarring in the comfortable reception a sleeker style allows. Eventually, we decided on the 'White In' effect, which is basically a fade in from a whit background as opposed to black. We feel this effectively represented the 'flash' idea that we were hoping to achieve but in a more effective, and smoother style, synonymous with the pace of the song.

We showed the video to one of our media teachers, who provided us with some useful feedback. She picked up on the section toward the beginning that we had been concerned about - the scene leading in to the flashback. She felt that it would perhaps be worthwhile trying to find a substitute clip to replace the short and abrupt clips that we had been left with. We took this on board and found a discarded shot of a pan across the Scrabble box. We removed the rapid shot-reverse-shot that showed her reaction to the box, and instead replaced it with a clip of this shot, which served to act as a point of view shot. This clip slotted perfectly into the timings of the previous succession of clips, thereby not creating any dramatic effect on the timings of the rest of the video, and allowing a much smoother and more comfortable transition into the flashback scenes.

We added a long fade out effect at the end of the video to keep in line with the more conventional aspect of the image we wanted to portray, and also to heighten the stereotypical generic feature of the 'happy ending', as a fade implies much more gentle and softened connotations than perhaps an abrupt cut at the end may signify. We additionally added a short fade to the beginning of our video primarily in order to contain the titles that we were required to included on our video, but iMovie would not allow us to use these two effects simultaneously. We overcame this slightly by dragging and dropping the title effect onto the opening clip, which added the titles - we decided to keep these basic and simplistic, with the artist and track names being the only information we chose to include, in order to best represent the more simplistic style of the artist and indeed the music itself. We decided to keep the fade in at the beginning anyway, as it created a much gentler beginning to the start of the video, in line with the soft instrumental beginnings of the start of the song.

Now we have finished our video, we will next save it onto the external hard drive for backup purposes, and burn it onto a DVD for the examiners.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a contemporary concept that suggests the artists and audiences have departed from realism in some manner, implying a shift away from the formal modernist rigours. It is an idea that is commonly used throughout many media products in modern society, particularly transgressing through the film and musical styles.

We have not incorporated a great deal of postmodernistic elements in our work as the folk style genre is very much about traditionalist ideas and values, therefore we didn't think an excess of postmodernistic elements would be at all complementary to the track or the artist.

One element of postmodernism that we chose to include was the traditional product convention of the disjointed narrative structure music videos often adopt. We did this in the form of flashback scenes to convey a happier and more jubilant time. We felt that this would create for a more interesting visual than a standard, slightly restricting format would have been.

Additionally, we utilised an element of hybridity in our video, in the form of cinematic conventions. For example, at the end of the video, the couple walk off into the sunset, which conveys a typical 'happy ending' impression that is common through films of a romantic orientation.

Finished Ancillary Texts: CD Packaging

Today we spent the day at the i-City learning centre at the Orchard School, Horfield. The purpose of today was to create and finish all of our Ancillary products using their advanced software that they provided for us. Fortunately, we had a good idea of the images that we wanted to create, and were fortunate enough to capture some effective photographs, so the creation process was relatively straightforward.


We began the day with a short tutorial on how to use Photoshop, in order to acquaint those of use who had never used the software before. We were shown how to use specific tools and brushes to create a number of different effects. Whilst this was useful in allowing us to develop our knowledge of the programme and how to use it, this was not particularly relevant to our group, as we had already decided to keep as much of the image raw and natural as possible, as we felt this was best in terms of representation of the genre and the artist herself. As we each took our own digital cameras to the filming days, we had a wide number of shots between the three of us, giving us a lot to choose from. We collated all of our images together, bringing them on USB sticks for ease of use and allowing us to switch images ands files between each of our three computers. We then hand-picked the best of the images we had, and began to fashion them to make the CD packaging.

CD PACKAGING

This was the first booklet sleeve that we made, for use as the CD album cover (right) and the back cover of the booklet (left) that we will later construct to slot into the front of the CD case. As found in typical media products, the CD cover is usually attached to the rest of the booklet, so these two could be produced side by side, meaning we won't have to do a lot of cutting and rearranging when we come to physically create the finished printed products.

CD FRONT COVER:

For the CD cover, we decided to use the shot of her holding the guitar behind her, back lit by the sunlight to create an almost silhouette-like effect. We liked this image as it was highly unconventional for this genre, in fitting with our video thereby creating cohesion between the products. In this genre, typically emphasis is placed upon the face of the artist in order to promote a sense of familiarity and intimacy, establishing a connection with the audience. It is a fairly elusive image, and the narrative behind it is not obvious or immediately determinable. This intrigues the audience, and encourages them to decipher a meaning or back story behind the image of their own accord. The image perhaps connotes a state of escapism, as she looks as is she is going somewhere, or walking towards the sun. This links to the ending shot of our video, with the two characters walking off hand-in-hand into the sunset together, implying a feel or romanticism and reinforcing the typical film-like 'happy ending'. This could be seen as a postmodernistic element, making reference to typical film conventions which is know as hybridity. This idea could also linked to Blumler & Katz's 1974 audience theory, citing one of the needs of the audience in consuming a media product is often a feeling of escapism and being taken away from reality. This image could link with this idea, and indeed with the ideas portrayed in the video, as the character often daydreams about a happier time, implying a want to get away or be 'escape' the everyday worries she has found herself in. Portraying the image in this light could potentially be seen as putting the artist on a level with the audience, implying a shared level of power and respect, implying no more of an authority than the audience themselves.

We kept editing to an absolute minimum, as we did not want to ruin the naturalistic effect or sacrifice the powerful quality of the original image alone. We kept this idea in mind whilst on the photoshoot, making sure we shot for the image as much as possible, and not for the potential edit. We used the brightness and contrast tool in Photoshop to enhance the colouring slightly, bringing out the vibrancy of the cover, thereby satisfying the semiology of the genre. We created two layers of the image, as we did not want to affect the contrast and colouring of the background, as we felt it was best to keep this natural. We wanted to emphasise the colourings on the shirt, so copied the image into a secondary layer, and used the magic tool and the eraser tool to leave only the shirt to work with. We then slightly boosted the colouring and contrast, and decided to leave the rest of the image as it was.

Hannah spent most of the morning Photoshopping the images of the Scrabble tiles together, which we used as the typeface on CD cover and the magazine advert. This works to create cohesion and synergy between all three media products, showing a recurring visual theme or motif. She cut the tiles out separately, and arranged them in a slightly haphazard manner, as we felt was best representative of the more natural, unpreened style of the genre. We decided that the product we were making was going to be an EP, similar to the existing product Gabrielle Aplin had already put out. This served to make our task a lot simpler than having to come up with all of our own track titles and formats etc, whilst also making the product seem more real to life, as if it could actually be a real media product.

We added the title font in a conventional lower case, handwritten style. This is often used throughout genres such as this to create a more personal feeling with the product, almost as if it has been signed by the artist before sending if off into the big wide world. This is also parallel to the smoother, more fluid style that music of this sort of genre is often associated with, thereby strengthening the connection between the visuals and the music. Given more time, however, I believe we would have spent more time on this element in order to ensure it was as high quality as it could be, as it's current state does look a little rushed, perhaps cheapening the effect of the overall cover.

BOOKLET BACK COVER:

We decided to use this more conventional close-up shot as the back cover, as it drew a lot of focus on her face and hair in a highly typical style of this sort of genre. Additionally, it created a contrast between many of the other photographs included in the booklet, much in parallel to the unstructured adherence, and alternatively abandonment of typical generic conventions throughout our own video. This shot was edited again to only slightly enhance the colourings, and bring out the rich greens and red of the image. We cropped the original, fitting it to the template structure we were given in order to promote a continuous size throughout the booklet and the typical structure of a real-life media product.

INSIDE BOOKLET 1:

We then went on to create this sheet for use as inserts into the booklet. Again, very little editing was used here in order to keep the running visual theme of an almost rustic like naturalism. We selected these shots as they are close-ups that emphasise certain parts of the females body, but not in a typically sexualised way, in light of the male gaze theory. They instead serve as flattering shots that allow a certain element of connection and familiarity to be established with the artist in a way that defies the usual rules of the straight staring gaze down the lens of a camera. We liked these two images as we felt that the colourings in them accentuated the feel of naturalism we were hoping to portray. The image on the right hand side did not turn out to be a successful as we had hoped - it was originally quite a dark image, so we used various tools in Photoshop in an attempt to amend this, however it still turned out much darker than we had envisioned when printed out. If we had had more time on this day, we would have perhaps devoted a little more attention into editing this image in order for it to create maximum impact and reach it's full potential. We originally planned to combine these images opposite a black lyrics page, however we felt that we wanted to stick to the idea of simplicity we had adhered to throughout the creation of all of our products, and thought it would have more of an impact left to itself, further emphasising the idea of mystery and the story line behind the images.

MIDDLE BOOKLET:

When looking at real media products of a similar style, we found that booklets such as the one we intended to make often included lyrics, allowing the audience to create a sense of familiarity with the songs. We decided it would make more of a statement and add depth to the promotion of the song we were marketing with our video for the only lyrics in the booklet to be that of this song. For the background, we used one image which we enlarged and stretched across the whole template. This provided again an element of realism, and promoted continuity across the two frames of the booklet. No editing was applied to this image, as when we cropped it to fit the template, we thought it's appearance was already fitting with the style we were aiming to create by colour and contrast enhancement etc.

INSIDE BOOKLET 2:

This is the third page for use as an insert into our CD booklet. It is another spread of two images, this time revolving around the theme of playing the guitar. This creates obvious links with the musical style, as an acoustic guitar is the sole instrument used throughout many of Gabrielle Aplin's songs. This obeys the conventional feature of emphasis on the music instead of the artist. Again, the only editing applied to these images was cropping them to fit the booklet template.

CD BACK COVER AND INLAY:

The picture on the right is the one we have chosen to use as the back of our CD cover. It depicts an image of the couple sat on a bench in the park, sourced directly from the narrative as opposed to the other images that were not contained within the narrative itself, but showed a number of visual links. This obvious link between the video and the ancillary text creates a synergy between them, allowing the two products to harmonise each other and increase effect. We looked into common conventions of the information that is included on the back of CD covers, and chose to include:

- Track Listings
- Composer and copyright information
- Produced by
- Links to her websites
- Bar code for ease of purchase

These all serve to make the product seem overall much more real to life, obeying product conventions and improving upon realism. To further emphasise this, we added an additional feature of a CD Spine, which would again serve to make the product seem more realistic and like a real media product overall. We created cohesion with other sections of the CD cover, using the Scrabble lettering style from the front cover as the typographical code for the spine. Additionally, the background for the image on the spine was an extension of the image used on the back cover of the CD sleeve, thereby allowing a certain element of fluidity and harmony in the construction of the packaging.

Editing Diary: 5

In today's lesson, we finally finished editing the narrative string of our music video. We are not entirely finished yet, as we will spend then remaining few lessons making final additions and amendments, but at least now we have a full length, almost completed video. I feel this has provided our group with a massive confidence boost, as we were beginning to feel as it our video would never be finished.

We mostly spent this lesson editing the flashback scenes in the park. We did encounter a few problems - for example, we took two spinning shots of Oscar to create the playful flashback scene of the couple spinning around together in the park, and we realised that in the shot that turned out to be the more favorable of the two, a major continuity error was present in that he was wearing a jacket instead of just the vest - furthermore, this was the same jacket used in the unhappier modern day scenes, ruling this clip unusable if we did not wish to confuse the audience in departing from the basic visual themes we had established. Fortunately, we had the initiative to take a second shot for exactly this sort of purpose, which although involved a much closer angle than the original shot, was still usable and still created the same effect. We also realised that we had failed to take a long shot of the couple spinning together, in order to convey clearly what was actually happening in that section of the video. However, we felt that this did not create a major problem, as it was still fairly obvious what was occurring, and we tried to emphasise this further through the use of a shot-reverse-shot between the two, implying they were spinning at the same time, allowing the audience to decipher the meaning behind the portrayal.

Another issue we found was in the shots of them sitting on the bench in the park before running away. Whilst filming, we felt that the light in this scene was almost ideal, as it was bright and slightly silhouetted the characters, adding a sense of intimacy and closeness between the two characters, contrasting highly with the representation of their relationship in the modern day. However, when it came to editing these clips, we discovered that the direct sunlight actually created a full beam of light directly down the centre of the frame - while we felt this could work in our favour, as a manipulation of the common conventional feature of natural lighting in order to imply the impending sense of separation between the two that is to come, we eventually decided against using these clips in our final product, as we felt it would just be too visually disruptive.


Our video ends with a long shot of the couple coming together again, taking each others hands and 'disappearing into the sunset', in a classic romantic style. We have decided to leave this clip in at it's full length, allowing it to trail out, parallel with the ending of the song. We intend to later apply a conventional feature of a fade out to black, in order to heighten the sense of softness and fluidity that has been a common theme throughout our final video.

Finished Ancillary Texts: Magazine Advert

This was the image we used for our final magazine advert that we created at the i-City Learning Centre today. We chose this image as we felt it effectively represented the conventional style of the genre as well as the image of the artist. It portrayed the artist in the fairly typical innocent and youthful light that we were aiming for in terms of representation, whilst also emphasising the running visual theme of nature. Additionally, we felt this was a fairly successful image as it is framed in such a way that shows the entire body, allowing for full dominance of the frame, as well as leaving half the frame vacant, providing the perfect space to include all the information that is conventionally included on a magazine advert.

In terms of the actual image, we did very little editing, as we felt the tones and colours of the image were at their best as they were. One thing we did do was combine the image with another photograph to create the best possible overall effect. We liked the main image best in terms of framing as Beth was right to the edge of the frame, and the guitar was at a visible angle. However, we felt that it would have been a much more effective image overall had we been able to see her full body in the frame, as opposed to cutting off the feet. To overcome this, we found a similar image in which the feet were fully visible, and set about merging this section onto the main image in order to increase effect. To do this, we first copied the section we wanted to edit onto the original image, and pasted it in a new layer above the original. We then used the eraser tool to get rid of any irrelevant outside sections, and the blend and smudge tools in order to merge the images together and make he image look authentic. I feel this was something that we managed to achieve relative success with, as when we asked for feedback at this stage, nobody seemed to be able to notice any difference.

We had previously research magazine adverts, so we had a good idea of the product conventions we needed to include. As Gabrielle Aplin is a relatively small scale artist, we decided it would be beneficial to include a quote of a review on the advert in order to maximise selling potential. This is due to the fact that she is not a big name, so would need a different method rather than a recognised logo in order to give the product selling power. The quote we used was a review from The Guardian, as we felt this was a publication that fitted well with this particular genre of music, and could potentially be real to life.

We used a similar font to the one we used on the CD cover to aid synergy and cohesion between the products. It was not, however, the exact same font, so perhaps if we were to do it again then it would be more effective to ensure the use of the exact same fonts across each product. This was an effect that we have successfully, I feel, managed to achieve with the use of the Scrabble tiles as a typeface, working to create a visual link between all three products, as well as to create a form of recognisable logo for the artist that would hopefully create a connection with the audience and grow to become recognisable.

Some of the information we included on the advert was a small insert of the CD cover itself, which created an obvious link between the products, and showed the audience what exactly was being advertised. We also included the product conventions of links to discover more about the artist, as well as detailing the formats in which the album would be available. We decided that due to the folkier attributes of her musical style, the tracks would be likely to be available on alternative formats such as that of vinyl, implying a more vintage and conventional style to the music.

Editing Diary: 4

Today we finally finished editing the interior scenes and began work on the exterior clips. We again made use of the camera and a FireWire to upload the remaining footage, our advanced experience with iMovie making the process much simpler than before.

Already the process feels much mroe straightforward, as the unhappier modern times utlise heavier amounts of editing in order to create a tense and abrupt visual style, in portrayal of the amosphere of the narrative. The editing in the flashback shots should in theory be much mroe straightforward, as it's narrative style is much looser - prehaps seen to encoroprate the postmodern theme of a disjointed narrative structure in that it does not follow any rigid or chronological timeline instead montaging a number of uplifting and bright clips to enforce the feeling of joy and vibrance. This makes for a much easier approach in the editing stages as it allows us to focus on the clip indivudually as opposed to worrying abotu how it will fit in exactly with the preceding and following clips.

One continuity issue that we have picked up on in this section is during the clips of the couple on the log, shot from behind. Through the middle of them, you can see the corner of one of our bags lying on the grass, which would break continuity in that neither of the characters were seen to exit the house with a bag, or seen to be carrying one in any exterior shots. In an attempt to overcome this, we decided to use clips of the same scene taken from a forward-facing angle, however we deduced that these were of a lesser quality and effect than our original intention had been, and therefore we decided that we had no other real option than to use these clips. Overall, it does not create a massively detrimental affect on the scene, but it would obviously be preferable to have as perfect continuity as possible.

We have realised today that we have deviated from our storyboard slightly. Whilst watching through what we had done so far, we noticed that the clips were not all necessarily in the places that we originally intended them to be - for example, we had hoped the lyrics 'unfinished messages' would be visually illustrated by a shot of the couple laying down scrabble tiles mid-game, however it is now illustrated by the beginning of the flashback, where she looks over to the window and notices the Scrabble box. We feel that overall, even though not all clips are where they were initially intended to be, they still work in their current positions, possibly to an even better effect than our original ideas would have done.

Image Ideas

These are some image ideas that we may use in our ancillary products, either in the CD packaging in some way, or on the music advert. All of these images are natural, and have not been edited at all yet, and hopefully won't even need to be edited much at all. This is because our group had decided to go for the-low key, conventional approach of realism and the naturalistic representations that are so popular throughout this genre.

I personally quite like this image. I feel that the use of natural lighting in the form of the sun is fairly effective, as it accentuates all the colours and tones of the image, making it more aesthetically pleasing as well as playing to the generic conventions. The way her hair is tousled by the breeze conveys the pretty young girl image that we were aiming for in representations. This image is highly unconventional for this genre as you can't see the girls face. Normally, there would be a close up shot of the girl with particular emphasis on her face, in order to promote her image and create a sense of recognition and familiarity with the audience. As you cannot see her face here, it creates an element of mystery, perhaps adding music more of a dynamic to the product and subsequently the artist. This image poses the question of why she is facing away from the camera, and where she is going or the significance of what she is looking towards. There is no evidence of male gaze theory, and the image is not sexualised in any way - in fact there is minimal focus on the female form, as the guitar dominated most of the foreground, perhaps implying that the music is more important than the image of the artist, very much in line with typical folk music values. I think this image would work effectively as an album cover, as is both a conventional and unconventional representation on the artist and the genre, which makes for an interesting narrative behind the image, creating a story that is deciphered entirely by the audience. I don't think we would have to do much by means of editing to this image, apart from perhaps cropping it, and using slight effects to enhance the image to it's full potential - adding the slightest bit of contrast for example in order to bring out the colourings of the image more. Furthermore, it would create the right level of cohesion between the narrative and the CD cover, as it is not an image sourced directly from the narrative, but there are still many visible connections that would be able to seamlessly link the products together.

This is an image of the female actor lying in the grass, with her hair deliberately fanned out behind her, dominating a significant section of the frame. This is one of the few conventional, close up shots we took of her showing her face. It is again quite representative of the whole innocence idea, and is in no way sexualised, instead playing on the idea of the cute young girl. This may be good to use somewhere within our CD case or booklet to aid cohesion between the generic representations and the already establish representations in Gabrielle Aplin's previous products, making it look like it could be a real life media product.

This is an interesting shot, taken from quite an unusual and unconventional angle. This could again be used as representative of the music being more important, or at least more of e focal aspect that the image of the artist something further supported by the use of lighting in this image, brightly lighting and drawing attention to the guitar, and casting her in shadow. It also again serve to create an element of mystery, as all you can see of the girl is her hands, and her body is silhouetted by her leaning stance. This makes the audience question who she is, and her significance, intriguing and enticing them into wanted to know more.

This shot may be quite effective to use inside our CD package, perhaps as an inlay or inside to booklet. It is a shot Hannah took at home of Scrabble tiles, spelling out the words 'More Than Friends'. This serves to create a strong visual link and cohesion with the name of the track and the ancillary product that we choose to use this image on. The dim lighting in this shot extends the feeling of romanticism that we were trying to achieve in this scene, emphasising it's effect and reinforcing the synergy between products.

Filming: Day 2

We managed to film the remainder of the flashback scenes that we required today, as well a successfully gaining a range of images for potential use with our magazine advert and CD packaging.

I met up with my group and the actors in the common room at lunch, at led them to Victoria Park, roughly 10 minutes away. The lighting on the day was much better than we were hoping for, as the sky was fairly clear and the sunlight was quite strong. Unfortunately though, it was quite cold so we felt that we couldn't keep the actors out for too long in just vests and thin cotton shirts, so we did rush the process a little bit, which may potentially have affected the quality of the visuals we produced. We will review and import this next lesson, but the likelihood of being able to film again is slim, so we will more than likely just have to work with what we've got.

The filming process went relatively smoothly, and there didn't seem to be any major problems or complications. By now, we had grown to be incredibly familiar with the equipment, each assuming an equal hands on approach throughout the group. The filming process was a lot faster due to the lack of rigid narrative structure to be followed: we had basic outlines and ideas, but we wanted to promote realism and the natural theme, so allowed the charismatic nature of the actors to transgress in the visuals.

We managed to capture a great deal of photographs between the three of us, and so we will have a wide range of shots to choose from when it comes to creating our ancillary texts. I think this is important as it allows us some freedom and movement in our ideas, instead of being stuck with one single image which would ruin the whole effect should there be some fault with it.

These are a sample of images I took today:

[IMAGES]

Editing Diary: 3

There are a number of problems we have encountered in the editing process today. Firstly, we have found that the clip of the 'present day' narrative leading up to the first flashback scene is too short. It involves the couple sat at the breakfast table, whilst Beth daydreams and Oscar eats by himself. Our storyboarded plan here was for the female to sigh and look out of the window, catching her eye on a Scrabble box hidden in the corner. We then intended to cut to a shot of recognition on her face, which would lead smoothly into the beginning of the flashback, showing the two in a happier time frame playing the board game. However, the clips we have did not turn out to be as effective as we had planned, and a number of them were unusable for numerous different reasons. Additionally, these shots were taken on one of the handheld camera as opposed to the camera attached to the tripod. This means that there is an excessive and perhaps unavoidable element of unsteadiness to the shot, which can potentially have a negative effect on the overall professionalism of our video. The only usable clips we have for this section were extremely short, lasting for around 1 beat each. This contrasts highly with the smoother, more in time editing of the rest of the video to this point, so will be something that we will review and try to iron out at a later stage. For now, we feel it is an ineffective use of time to devote hours to one small section of footage, so we will continue to edit the rest of our video and then review this section, and make any amendments if possible.

Another problem we encountered in this stage was the lighting throughout this flashback scene. Our original intention was to elevate the romanticism and sentimental value of the scene through the use of low-key lighting in the form of closed curtains and candles. However, the main flaw in this idea came in the fact that we had to film these shots during the day, and therefore could not effectively create an authentic night-time impression. In many shots, the bright natural daylight can be seen from behind the curtains, pretty much ruining the illusion of nighttime we had hoped to achieve. Additionally, the candle light did not appear to do much by way of lighting the scene, and therefore this was a rather ineffective approach to the filming. If we were to do it again, I would suggest perhaps the use of other methods of low-key lighting, such as lamps to dimly light the couple from the front, still serving to create a similar effect, but at least making them visible in the filmed footage.

We have attempted to resolve the lighting issues in these clips through the use of editing, but we are still uncertain as to whether this has aided the effect at all. We are likely to go back to this in a later stage of the editing process to see if there are any improvements we can make.

We have been experimenting with different effects we could include in the video, and decided to add the diagetic sound of the glasses clinking during the match-on-action shot. To do this we raised the volume levels on that one particular clip to hear that sound simultaneously with the song. However, we decided that this was not a professional nor product conventional feature, and overall would not tend to work as an effect in a real music video, and so we removed this effect, dragging the sound levels back down to mute it.

The editing process around this section is quite tricky, as we have not yet filmed the second half of the flashback scenes. This means that we do not yet know if there is any outdoor footage we want to include up to this point, and therefore must leave gaps whilst editing in order to add footage to fill the blanks at a later date.

Planning: Day 2

WEATHER:

Today, we plan to film the remainder of the outdoors shots for the flashback scenes. As these scenes are supposed to demonstrate a 'happier' time in the relationship, we felt that the weather was one of the most important factors in preparation for filming these shots, due to the warm and generally happier connotations of bright sunlight. Additionally, not only should the bright natural light help the shots to turn out softer and more appealing, but the usage of sunlight in this manner is also a fairly typical convention of this sort of genre.

This is the weather forecast for the intended filming period:

COSTUMES:

To promote continuity throughout our video, we have asked the actors to bring the same costumes as they wore for the flashback scene before, i.e. when playing scrabble. For Beth, this outfit consisted of a red checkered shirt, dark jeans and red trainers. For Oscar, this consisted of a red vest, dark jeans and trainers. These outfits expand on and emphasise the happier connotations of the narrative with this scene, particularly through the usage of colour connotations.

LOCATION:

We plan to film in Victoria Park, a large park roughly a ten minute walk away from college. I live close by, so this means if we are unable to return to college after filming, I would be able to take the borrowed equipment home safely. Additionally, this means that I know the park well, and should theoretically be able to suggest suitable locations for filming.

PROPS:

As one of the key themes running through the narrative of these scenes is simplicity, we do not require any props. The emphasis will be strongly on the couple, enjoying each others company and spending time together. I will, however, need to bring the guitar again. As well as finishing all of our filming today, we plan to capture the rest of the images we need for the ancillary products, including the images of Beth alone to be used for the CD cover and the magazine advert. This also means we will need to bring our digital cameras to capture the images on, as well as borrowing the camcorders and the tripod from college again.

ACTORS:

Hannah has contacted the actors and confirmed that they are available from tomorrow lunchtime onwards, which allows us the double period at the end of the day as well as a little extra time after college should we run over the planned filming time again.

Editing Diary: 2

We eventually got round to importing the track to use in the editing process of our video, as to progress much further without the song could have a negative effect at a later stage, making the editing much more difficult for us. I personally owned the EP on which the track was contained, so I brought my copy of the CD in and uploaded the track onto iTunes. We then imported this into iMovie using the audio tool. This allowed us to begin fitting the visuals to the song, both in terms of positioning the shots of the narrative in coordination with the lyrics, emphasising the convention of the slightly illustrative style we were aiming for. This also served to strengthen the relationship between the music and the visuals, meaning we could edit the clips to fit to the pace and beat of the song, in order to create an overall fluid visual style. The main beat of the track was on a bar of 4, which promoted ease of editing in that as it is an even number, if we wished to use short, sharp clips and a faster edit in places, we could cut them to last for half of a bar, meaning they wouldn't stand out and become too visually abrupt.

It proved to be beneficial for us at this stage to have such a vast selection of different clips of any one action to choose from, as the flexible filming enabled us to pick and choose the one we though would work best next without being forced into a certain line or structure as storyboarded, which would then be difficult to change and avoid certain problems if there were no more clips to choose from.

One problem that we encountered during this stage was that of the lighting and camera quality in the bedroom scenes. As we had been very reliant on natural lighting whilst recording, this took effect on the end footage as different angles seemed to consist of different lighting. This took a negative effect on the cohesion of the clips to create one overall scene, as the appearance of the scene was inconsistent. We experimented with various editing effects to resolve this, and decided our best hope was to use the brightness and contrast tool in order to lighten the image, and then make it slightly sharper and clearer by adding a slight amount of contrast. Unfortunately, this did have a negative effect on the overall quality of the visuals, but there is not much we can do to resolve this, short of scrapping the entire clip altogether, subsequently creating a massive gap in our narrative.

Despite this problem, the majority of this part of the editing process was fairly simple and straightforward - as our video is narrative based and accompanies a fairly slow paced track, the majority of the transitions we are using between shots are that of straight cuts. This allows for an uninterrupted visual flow, and also helps in promoting the idea of continuity crucial to the conveyance of our ideas. These also allowed us to clearly portray a number of match-on-action shots, for example in this scene when Beth rolls over in bed, or when Oscar turns his head to look at her before getting up - a straight cut here allows us to cut immediately to show the actors face, thereby clearly using body language and facial expression to create the mood and atmosphere of our narrative.

In addition, we muted all of the clips to remove any background sound that would at all undermine the authority of the song, allowing the track to be the sole focus of aural attention and not distracted from in any way. The very first shot of our video is that of a ticking clock - this is used to set the pace and location for the visuals, as well as allowing for an introductory shot to the visuals. We decided to include the diagetic sound of the clock ticking to emphasise the slow pace, as well as to create a comfortable, smooth transition into the beginning of the song, which we slowly faded simultaneous to the sound of the clock fading out.

Editing Diary: 1

Today we began the editing process for our music video. To do this, we created a new project in iMovie, and used a camera and a FireWire to import all of the footage we had captured so far. This became quite complicated, as we had a number of tapes containing different footage, so it was to difficult to determine where all of our footage was or if we were missing anything. This caused problems when we went to review the clips and put them in order, as were unable to find any of the specific clips we needed. To prevent this problem from happening again throughout the remainder of the editing process, we decided to put all the clips we had so far in order, making for an easy point of reference, and allowing speed and ease in finding clips as and when we needed to.

Additionally, due to the abundance of footage we had shot in order to cover all bases, viewpoints and angles, we used up quite a lot of computer memory. We went through and deleted all the off cuts of clips that we knew were definitely unusable in our footage - for example out of focus shots, or accidental recordings taken when we didn't know the camera was turned on. This didn't really have a dramatic effect on the free memory levels however, so we tided and uncluttered the Mac desktop from files that were no longer needed, to allow more room for memory, which we would need when we imported the second lot of footage, later on.

We then began to edit the opening scenes of the video, however as we had not yet imported the song, this was a process that we had to do quite carefully. We did not want to be too specific and detailed in our edits at this point without being able to see how it would link with the track - i.e. we didn't cut too much out of the clips at this point incase they were too short to be used in harmony with the song when we imported it. The only real editing we did to these clips at this stage was to remove all the sections that we knew would be in no way usable, such as shakes and poor lighting. This meant that we would be able to begin to get a picture of the overall finished product, but it still allowed for freedom and flexibility in the finer editing stages.

Filming: Day 1

Today, we spent the whole day filming as much of the footage for our music video as we possibly could. We did not succeed in fully completing all the filming we needed, and so we will have to go back on a later date to get the rest of the shots we require. However, we have more than enough to begin the editing process for now.

Myself and my group arranged to meet at Temple Meads at 9am, in order to allow us a good full day's worth of filming. We decided the weekend would be best to do this, as neither our group nor the actors would have had any educational commitments in the form of lessons it would be unfair to ask them to miss, and also the weekend is when everybody was most likely to be free. Filming in the morning was also important for us, as our initial shots are morning shots, and reply on the use of natural light to convey the time to the audience. If we were filming perhaps later in the afternoon, when it was forecast to be slightly sunnier, then this could affect the portrayal of morning that we wanted to convey, and create a negative impression on the audiences perception of our product, as they perhaps would not understand the narrative.

We met as a group first, in order to establish that we had everything we needed - in terms of equipment, props and storyboards etc. We then met with the actors and travelled together to Kuda's house to shoot our interior scenes.

We felt that for ease in the editing process it would be more efficient to shoot in storyboard and narrative order. This should theoretically make editing more straightforward in that we hopefully won't have shots all over the place, and they will be in an easily accessible order. This therefore meant that the first scene we required the actors to do was to get into bed with each other...

After the initial awkwardness of the first scene, the two seemed to act quite comfortably together, which we felt would help to enhance the feeling of realism we aim to achieve in our representation.

We used framing here to represent the emotional detachment between the couple. Whilst they were lying in bed, we wanted the closeup shots to be framed heavily-weighted to one side, surrounding the character with empty space in the frame, in reflection of the vast amount of space between the couple on an emotional as well as physical basis. This was something we then emphasised with an overhead mid-shot of the two in bed, where each was positioned as far from their opposing sides of the frame as possible, showing a clear physical divide between the two, which connotes the status of their relationship.

Setting up for these scenes took much longer than we had imagined, but this showed us what to expect for the rest of the filming period, allowing us to factor this in to the time management for the remainder of the day.

Kuda's room was quite small and with 5 people in it, the room became quite cramped. There was not a massive deal of room for manoeuvre, and so we had to be quite experimental and creative with the angles and shots we chose. One problem we encountered was the natural light from outside, which kept fluctuating from brightness to darkness due to the cloudy weather. This affected the continuity of the shots, and meant that we had to shoot double the amount we had expected to try and get a range of clips that would enable us to create a running visual theme, instead of a disruptive, constantly changing visual flow between shots.

Additionally, as the natural light from the window was the only lighting source we used, we had to be very careful in the positioning of ourselves and the camera, so as not to cast any shadows across the scene. This meant that we took a number of unconventional filming approaches into obtaining the angling we needed, including placing the tripod above the actors in the bed, and also holding it out to create an overhead mid-shot of the two together. The only way in which we could effectively achieve this was to sit at the foot of the bed, with all three of us holding the end of the tripod in order to get as steady a shot as possible. Obviously, this was going to affect the outcome of the shot, as it would not ensure complete stability, but it would make for a smoother visual style than a simple hand held shot might have done.

We filmed a few brief shots of the mise-en-scene that we brought, but I feel that we are unlikely to use them as there was nowhere they could be positioned to be simply seen in the background, and quick pan across them may look odd and out of context.

We then went into the dining room to film the second set of interior shots. This was fairly easy to set up, as we had already seen the location through images Kuda had shown us, and upon entering the house, so we had a rough idea of the camera set up we wanted to use. Additionally, there was much more room for movement whilst filming, so we were able to get a wider variety of camera angles and positions. Seeing as we had three cameras, we thought it would be best to have at least one set up in a static, long to mid shot setting,in order to allow a steady and clear depiction of the narrative. We used the remaining two cameras to gain alternative angles and perspectives, focusing on one character each. This would enable us to create a range of camera effects in the editing stages, such as that of the shot-reverse-shot between the two characters, and match-on-action's, for example, when the glass of juice is passed across the table. In the modern day, main narrative to the video, we opted for the use of more high angles shots, to show a more powerless and weaker position, in order to reflect the state of the relationship that we wanted to convey. It makes the two seem as though they have no power to change anything within the relationship, and they are emotionally sinking together. In the happier flashbacks, we made a point to capture many of the shots from a lower angle, looking up at the two actors. This heightens a feeling of authority and power, perhaps suggesting that they are on top of their relationship and in total control - it is unfolding as they want it to, and they are both of a mutual level of respect and understanding in the relationship.

One problem that we encountered during this part of the filming process was again with the lighting in scenes, particularly that of the flashback. We wanted this scene to come across as romantic and intimate, and were hoping to achieve this through the use of low-key lighting in the form of candles. However, when we began to film like this, we noticed that the shots were far too dark, and the camera wasn't picking up any images in great quality. We tried to resolve this by opening the curtains behind us slightly, in order to filter a small amount of light in to act as a front light, allowing the camera to pick up the image. However, the natural light was too powerful, and completely overturned the lighting from the candles. Additionally, as we framed the shot with a window separating the two, and were filming during the day, the only way to block out this light was to pull the curtain across it. However, this failed to stop the light from seeping through the edges of the curtain and ruing the effect of the shot. We overcame this slightly by placing the lid of the Scrabble box against the curtain to hold it down, but unfortunately it was ultimately unavoidable. We set about trying to find a range of different shots to avoid seeing the lighting, usually using close ups that focused more on the face or action at hand.

Whilst we were filming, we also thought it would be beneficial to hold various photoshoots at the same time. These images could then be used for our ancillary products of the magazine advert and the CD digipack. By taking images simultaneous to our filming, it would create cohesion between the images, as the factors of the images would all be the same, in terms of location, appearance, lighting etc. This is an important thing to consider when thinking about the synergy we need to create through our digipack, in order for it to work together as a whole promotional tool.

These are some of the images we captured. Although we did not make any plans for any images of this sort, we thought it would be beneficial to us to get as wide a range of images as possible, whether planned or impromptu like these were.

We then left the interior location, and walked to a park close to Kuda's house. The weather was pretty miserable by this point, which could have worked well in terms of the connotations of misery we were aiming to portray in the narrative, but overall we felt that it would be better to come back and film more exterior shots another day. Unfortunately, due to the extensive amount of filming we had done all day, the cameras were nearly flat, and so we did not have much filming time left as it was. We managed to film a fair number of exterior shots in this location, before it started to rain, so it may even be the case that we have enough of the modern day narrative strand as it is. We will definitely need to arrange another day to film the exterior flashback scenes, hopefully on a day with a more desirable weather forecast.