Album Covers and Tour Posters

Part of our task is to create an album cover and a tour poster to go with the music video. The purpose of this is to advertise the artist and songs to the public. An album cover helps to create an image for an artist and sometimes can tell a lot about them and the particular album. Album covers help promote the artist and allows for people to identify them.

Tour posters also promote the artist but provides information for the public. They tell a lot about what the tour is going to be like and is part of a promotional campaign that helps the artist to be recognised by a wider audience.  Below is the album cover and tour poster for Sam Smith in which we will create our own taking inspiration from this.

Feedback

Below I have included images of the feedback I gave to the other groups about their music videos. By providing feedback the groups are able to re-edit their videos based on what people have said. This overall will improve their videos and make them better.

First Draft of music video

Today we have finished our editing for our music video. It is only a first draft so obviously there are things to improve on. We showed our music videos in class to each other to get feedback on what was good and bad about each video. From this we then can act upon the feedback to improve our music video.

Our group video can be found on this link below
http://groupcaik.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/music-video-first-draft.html

Contact Sheets

These are my contact sheets, as you can see on the pictures I have highlighted potential pictures that I could use for my album cover or tour poster. 

Locations of filming

I have included a birds eye view of the locations we filmed in as a group. We chose three locations that are completely different from each other so that in our music video there is more than one scene. 

We chose these locations specifically because they are very recognisable and are visually appealing. Also these locations were just a bus away and so was easy for us all to get there. When we got to each location they were better than expected as the weather was great with lots of natural lighting. This made our video very clear and look professional.

The cost was relatively cheap with it only costing £4 for a day pass. Due to our locations of filming we had to take around an hour out of filming time to accommodate for travelling to and from each location.  

Location One - St Johns Gardens & Library

Location Two - Pier head

Location Three - Crosby Beach

Cinematography

Pier Head - Scene Four

Crosby Beach - Scene Two

We have now finished filming for our music video so above I have put up some short clips that I have took that we will use.

Define text as brush (Photoshop Practice)

Third day of filming

Anthony taking photos for Album Cover.

Walking away scene for end of music video.

Panoramic shot of Crosby Beach.

Today at Crosby beach we got the rest of our filming done for our music video. The Our next step is to begin editing which we will start this week.

Weather

The weather for tomorrow looks good and so filming will go ahead as planned. 

Quick photoshop effects

Above are some quick photoshop effects I have messed around with on the same image. These effects and filters could be used for my album cover or tour poster. I have only quickly added these filters and haven't messed with the options too much so if I do use any off these I will spend more time making it look better.  

Second day of filming

Yesterday we went out filming in our second location on the pier head. We got some videos and images using a range of different camera shots and angles that we will use in our music video. This location was good to film in because there are nice background shots of iconic buildings and other scenery.

Filming Location Two

Today we will be filming in our second location for our music video. We will be going to the Liverpool Docks as there are lots of good scenery that we can have in our music video such as the mersey and iconic buildings. We will hopefully get the rest of our filming done in the couple of hours that we are there.

Weather

Again like last week I have checked the weather forecast before we go out to film. As the picture shows the weather is going to fine so the filming will go ahead as planned. 

Start of Music Video

Today we started recording for our music video and below I have included some shots of what I took as part of our behind the scenes. The first location we started filming was the surrounding area of St Georges Hall. We took many recordings using different angles and frames in which we will later edit into our music video once finished recording in the other locations.
Although I checked the weather before hand, today the weather was better than expected and so the shots taken visually looked better because of all the natural lighting. This may make the editing a little bit easier as I wont have to adjust the contrast or brightness of the videos.

Filming Location One

Today are filming will begin and our first location is St Johns Gardens. We have chose this location to film as it we feel it is a good location that will emphasize the lyrics of the song and shows of iconic buildings.

Weather

Tomorrow we will begin our filming for our group music video and as planning and preparation I have checked the weather forecast to ensure that we wont encounter any problems whilst filming and that the conditions are right for the video. I just looked online and as the picture shows, tomorrow is going to be a dry day so our filming will go ahead as planned.

Risk Assessment

Before we go out and start filming for our music video we have to prepare by filling out a Risk Assessment for the three locations that we will be filming in. This will help us to be aware of the possible risks that can happen so that we are cautious when we are out filming.

Filming Preparation

Before we start to film our music video there are many things we have to consider. So today we looked at the preparation that needs to be done before we can film each time. The reason we did this is so that we know no problems will occur. This overall will allow for a music video that will look professional and have contunuity. Below are some examples of things we need to think about.

Story Board

Our first step towards creating a music video is to create a story board so that when out filming we know what camera shots to get and in what location. Although only brief this will help us to be organised so that we get all the shooting that we need and not miss any out.

Job Roles

When out filming, each group member will have a different role to upheld so that each one of us has a certain responsibility through the production of the music video. Sharing the responsibility means that we can create a successful music video where we each have an equal role so that the production is a group effort.

Charles Mossman - Actor and location manager

Ian Pelgrave - Director and camera operator

Kieran Winrow - Costume/Prop assistant and second camera operator

Anthony Black - Assistant Director and photographer 

Artist Research - Sam Smith

 

• He is a British singer song writer
• He rose to fame in October 2012
• Featured on Disclosures Single "Latch" which was a great success
• His single "Stay With Me" was an international success
• Nominated in 2013 for 2014 Brits Critics' Choice Award
• His album "In the Lonely Hour" rose to number 1 in the UK charts

Group Song

After discussing and looking at the list of possible songs to do as a group we finally came to a decision. We thought that this song would be the best choice because it is a song that was released this year. Also the song is fairly slow so it would be easy for us to make a video on as it would be easy to lip sync. Below I have included the song lyrics and the music video.

Album Cover Comparison

After creating my own mock up of a album cover I have decided to compare it to the original album cover. I will be eventually creating an album cover for my music video so by comparing my work to others will help me to make a good enough album cover that looks professional. On my album cover I have used the pixel dispersion effect on the image and the fire effect on the text.

Looking at the original album cover my own looks very different. Compared to mine I feel that the original one is better because it looks like a lot of time has gone into making it, mainly being the image. More thought has gone into the album cover as they haven't just used an image of the band like I have. Also at first look it does appear to be more simple yet looking closely it is actually two birds which shows that there is a lot of detail in the image. To conclude I think that there are many ways in which my album cover could be improved whether it is using another image or using better edits to better suit the overall look. 

Mock Album Cover

This is an album cover I have made using Photoshop and I have used 2 of the skills I have learnt over the past few weeks on Photoshop. I have used a very basic fire effect on the text and also the pixel dispersion effect on the image. I have also added some other effects such as a saturation to make it look even better. I think that this is quite good for a first attempt of an album cover, although there could be improvements for example the font could be changed. 

Pixel Dispersion Effect (Photoshop Practice)

Next Stage In Group Production

As a group we sat down and planned what our next step was going to be. We divided the tasks between us so that the workload was divided equally and we all contributed to the task. Below is an image of the tasks each one of us have to do.

Text on Fire (Photoshop Practice)

Group Genre

As a group we came up with a decision to base our music video on the indie/pop genre. We came to this decision because we all like some songs within this genre. Also we thought it would be fairly easy to make a music video for this genre as looking at the charts a lot of the songs fit in with this genre. 

Poster Comparison

In comparison from my first poster I made I think I have made great improvement because I spent a lot more time doing it. Also I have included conventions of a poster for example tour dates and where to buy tickets. Below I have included some comments from my classmates on what they thought about my posters and I agree with them that The Script poster is better.

Group Blog Set Up

As a group me, Charlie Mossman, Kieran Winrow and Anthony Black have set up our group blog. As a group we decided to go for the indie/pop genre for our style of music video. On our group blog we will show our development of our journey to creating our music video. 

Group Work Progress

Today we got into our groups for our music video. In my group is Charlie Mossman, Kieran Winrow and Anthony Black. To start we created a mind map of the the artists or songs that we liked and from this we had to narrow our choices down. We discussed as a group and we came to a decision of the genre of music for our video because it reflected most of personalities and we thought it would be a good genre to do. We looked at various things such as good music videos, posters and album covers in which we can get ideas from. After this we will research and further discuss to decide on the song we will do a music video to. 

iMovie Green Screen 2

This is my second version of Dancing Woman in which I have removed the original audio and added another audio into the video. I have also edited it where the woman dancing appears to be continuous and doesn't stop start like the previous video. 

                                   

My Lip Sync Feedback

I have made a list of some of things I can do to improve my lip sync:

• Move text across the video 
• Move images across the video
• Add image as background
• Add video as background
• Use different framing - Closeups of eyes or mouth
• Use another camera to show different angle for example from the side

Also these are some of the comments my class mates have left on my blog about what they thought about my lip sync and how I can make it better. I will try and include some of these things said so that I can improve my lip sync video.