Construction-Final Cut Video

Above is my final cut for my music video of Kate Boy's 'Northern Lights'. It feels like a relief to have finally got my video finished but at the same time a little sad. Although I worked on this mainly by myself i'll miss filming and coming up with my creative thoughts and ideas and asking for the assistance for the equipment and the laughs that we had filming and messing up and how it took Farhath a billion times to get a steady tracking shot of me standing still haha. Overall though it's nice to be finished and today I shown my class my video and as I was watching my own work I couldn't help but feel proud as i thought it would be difficult and turn out a bit rubbish having to work on my own but although it was difficult it definitely didn't turn out how I expected it too.
Below is the feedback from the class with an overall rating of 9/10 which is so great and shows me I'm doing something right when it reaches such a high rating.

"Outdoor shot in the beginning doesn't look very well lit"
"More animation performance in the chorus would make the song look better"
Very good editing; matches to the beat well."
"The treatment matches the song nicely."
"The gold hand effect looked good; liked it."
"9/10"

I think the comments are fair and minor adjustments would be required to alter it in the way they suggested which is good and doesn't mean I've gone really wrong anywhere it's just aesthetic elements. 

Construction-Final Magazine

Above is my final construction for my magazine advert. 

I decided to keep the black and white theme as it matches the album. I also highlighted some words in gold to catch the audiences attention.

I'm happy with the result and thought it would be fun to put my magazine up in billboard to see what it would look like.

Here is my advert in a train station billboard and I think it looks pretty convincing. I chose this location as train stations are popular places and a lot of people will see it on their journeys. I put a smart phone scanner on the advert so my target audience will be able to scan it while travelling or on the go.

Below is a gif on how the different steps went into making it. 

Construction-Final Digipak

(click image for original size or right-click and open image in new tab)

Above is my final digipak product. It is a 4 panel base with spine. I opted or just 4 as I noticed a lot of people doing 6 and dare I say it, I wanted to be different. :p But in all seriousness I thought 4 panels suited my theme more. It's simple, yet effective. All images are my own and I even put in my own production company logo which you can see larger below:

It says 'MK Productions' which stands for Michaela Knight which is my name, hello. I love the font which is the same as the album cover I chose it as it matches and it expresses my style and if I was a production company for real I'd have a logo that shown my tastes and styles as well as this one.

Below are some images I did to show what my adverts would look like in real life scenarios such as bill boards and magazines themselves.

I posted my digipak on my Facebook and here is some of the feedback:

10 people from my Facebook liked it which is great news. It shows I'm doing something right an that my approach is something my target audience in interested in.

Digipak Ideas #4 - Album Cover Trials!

EDIT #1

I went with the theme of black and white for this edit as it reflects the theme of the music video. I also chose the most popular font from votes held on Facebook and Twitter and I think it works very well. I chose this front facing close up shot as most album covers, especially of females, feature a close up of their face. I really loved the lighting in this shot too. It looks very mimimal and effortless, but trust me, it wasn't so effortless!

EDIT #2

Edit 2 I tried out a little colour. I do like this edit and I like the placing of the title on the side to fill the space, it balances nicely. Although I think the black and white image is a bit more relevant to my theme and has a more stylish feel to it.

EDIT #3

Finally, edit 3 is my favourite. I chose this one to be the album cover as I adore the black and white and the flawless skin editing works so well with monochrome. I love the lighting it hits the side of my face perfectly and leaves just enough room to fit in the title of the album and the artist name. I chose to keep the same font and the reposition but I added a pop of colour to the word 'light'. The colour is gold in reference to the lyrics in my song choice 'Northern Lights', "everything we touch turns, turns to gold". I think this has worked really well and I'm very proud of it.

Below is some screen grabs of my process through photoshop on how I achieved these final images.

 In the above image the skin is heavily airbrushed this is one of the steps before toning it down and changing the opacity I had to take to achieve a more natural look.

I used a lot of layers and groups to soften the skin and 'perfect it' without taking away to much realist imperfections. I change the brightness and contracts, colour selection, levels and curves in order to get this effect. I used blur filters, noise and sharpen and high pass.

Here are some before and after shots:

Diary Entry #10 - Photo shoot!

Above is a short video of a couple of shots from my photo shoot. I included a before and after shot from editing on photoshop CS6.

The shoot went really well. I was alone on this endeavour but it was a success! I got some good photos for my 4 panel digipak and it only took me an hour! Wooooo.

Diary Entry #9 - Photo shoot Schedule

It's time for my close up and I'm raring to go...just about. 

I've put together a little photo shoot schedule and as I'll be on my own for this I need to make sure I get everything I need and more. 

Friday 17th January 2013

9:00am - Gather equipment from the loan shop i.e. DSLR camera and tripod.

9:05am - Set up said equipment and adjust light boxes accordingly.

9:20am - Put my slap on (make-up) hopefully this will take me only 5-10 minutes as I am a professional woman. 

9:30am - Lights, camera, shooot! Start the shoot with blaring music and work it! (joking)

9:30am - 11am - Basically what I said up there; testing photos, trying new poses, seeing what works and hopefully by 11:00am I will have a selection of photos to work with!

Digipak Ideas #3 - Magazine Research

Magazines are part of the 21st century and they are everywhere we look. As a young adult I'm a prime suspect for the magazine advertises to pounce on. I love all things fashion, beauty, media, music and celebrity related and I believe I'm not the only one with this guilty pleasure. 

Many people around my age range (18-25) will agree that magazines are a good way to past the time while travelling or even just as pure enjoyment and a hobby, so in relation to my digipak it is essential that my music video promotion in a magazine is one that will make the reader pause to scan and decide within those first through milliseconds if my album is worth purchasing. 

Below are some examples of some artists who I have taken inspiration from and/or just genuinely  enjoy their music. It's a clear depiction that the magazine advert reflects on the album so when going to find the album to buy it you can just refer to or remember the image and not have trouble getting confused by the overwhelming amount of artists albums on sale today. 

I know the above image is of a front cover advert just promoting Katy Perry and not necessarily advertising her new album but I chose this image because the main image used is from her 2014 Calendar and also her appearance is the same as on her Album cover this is from her 'Prism' era and the colours and image reflect her new album.

I think my favourite style of magazine is Lana's. It's simplicity is what appeals more to me. I think I'll do both an A4 portrait and landscape advert and try out different styles and see which one works more through social media polls.