Music Video - Final

My Final video. I have sped up the music video to match the music and have gotten rid of boring bits by adding more shots and flashes. Using Adobe After Effects CS6, Mr Wallis taught me how to add in the CRT TV Static Effect which I think looks really cool as it makes the less flickery, less jumping chorus shots more interesting

Music Video - Draft

 

I have finished and exported my music video draft and it has been uploaded to the Ashfield School media channel on YouTube. This is a draft of my final product because there are are a few changes I need to make including issues with video speed not matching the speed of the song, there are some boring bits and shots I feel dont quite fit in where they have been place. I'm also going to put the video on facebook and get some feedback and ideas on how to improve it. I'll then make appropriate changes based off of my own views and the feedback I get.

Digipak is Finished

Turns out even with my crazy limited knowledge of photo editing and with only Pixlr for editing software I can still manage to put together an awesome Digipak in less than a day.

 I created the image for the front and back covers by taking a weird static-looking frame from one of my shots from my filming and edited this in such a way that it looked bot industrial and a bit digital. I added noise and pixelated the image then adjusted it with the colour editing tools available on Pixlr. I actually really like the way they came out.

Using made up names and the (real) company Warp Records I added all the necessary information that needs to go on the back of an album over the image that I had created for the front cover. I think that the similar covers are cool as it'd look as though the cover continues all the way around the back. The lack of focal point in the images is interesting also as it draws attention to the text without being completely lacking in detail; cool shapes and lines are visible in the image

My favourite panel of the design is the inside front cover. For the background image of this panel I used a still frame of the cloudy sky from one of my days of filming and edited it using tools such as Gaussian blur, Add noise, pixelate and many more. I again played with the colours until it looked perfect (to me, you may think otherwise). I then had to go onto paint to add the text in the font i liked as it is not available on Pixlr. The font I used was embarrassingly called 'MineCrafter 3' which I already had on my computer because I'm a bit of a Minecraft nerd. I came up with some names I thought sounded cool to go on there along with 'Transmission' the track for which I created the video.

Panel four the inside of the back cover wouldn't be attached on the seam nearest the fold (if it we're real) to create a sleeve for the disk itself to go in. For this panel I took a picture of Gracie which is actually already on the 10,000BC site and edited it on Pixlr until I was happy with it.

I really like the way all of the panels turned out, I feel they're all similar looking enough to be part of the same digipak and I feel they match the artist brand and the song really well.

 

Digipak - Template

I have decided to make a four panelled digipak as the examples of digipaks that I have seen that match my genre tend to have just four panel as opposed to six,

I have created a template using one at this link  and made a few changes on paint

I have chosen to make the Inside Back Cover a sleeve for the disk as the design on this panel will be easier to see without there being the casing for the disk like most digipaks and CD cases.

Website Update - Completely Completed

(Click the Image)

 

I was under the impression the site would automatically be at the domain name 10000bc.wix.com/

but it is instead at aaronweir1996.wix.com/10000bc which sort of sucks. To change the domain name of a wix website you have to pay for Wix Premium. If were going to do that the ideal name would be 10000bc.com but as I'm not going to do this I'll have to deal with it as it is

Website Update - Homepage Completion

I've finished the website homepage since the last post I made on here and I have changed the entire site's background to this crinkled paper background that I found as one of the preset background options on Wix. 

I quite like the way this looks. I prefer it to the plain white as that seemed a bit boring and empty. I have also finished the gallery page as I got Gracie to come round so I could take some cool photos, I chose the best ones to put on the site, I actually like the average quality and lack of editing oin the pictures as it makes it look a little less 'trying-to-hard'y. I also added a side scrolling galleryget on the info page. The info page and the music page are all that need doing now as I dont know what to do on either page.

Website is Coming Along

Using a template on Wix.com called 'Black Barby' I have managed to make quite a bit of progress into building a Wensite for my artist 10,000BC. I really like how it's coming along

 

 

The Tour dates section at the side remains from the template but these will be changed to be 10,000BC's tour dates and it'll all look awesome. I still have to do the other 3 pages but they shan't take too long

Planning - Album name

Using the site I used to get my idea for my artist name I found an idea for my album name. After clicking the 'This name sucks. Give me a new one.' button I came across the name 'The Grinding Mechanism ' which I think sounds pretty awesome.

Filming - Day 02 No Success

Itinerary: Camera, Tripod

Location(s): Portland Park

We took the camera and tripod to Portland Park, planning to get some cool shots there and down the Quarries but it was too dark by the time we got there and Gracie was barely even visible in the shots; She suggested brighteneing them up in editing but that would create a lot of static and noise so we went back to my house.
On the way back to mine we managed to find a little residential road right near mine called Sylvan Avenue, that looked creepy enough at night so I managed to film a few shots of her looking mysterious walking around under lamposts and stuff.

 

Filming - Day 01 Lipsyncing

Itinerary: Camera, Tripod, Gracie
Location: My Bathroom

Filmed in my bathroom we got the lipsyncing done. I chose that my bathroom would be an ideal location as there is a plain white wall to have as the background. In every take of the lipsyncing Gracie messed up a little bit but I think I can crosscut it together and make it look good enough, if not the we could always re-film it if needed as it wasn't a very taxing task.

 

I also managed to finally get the costume photos needed for my blog which I uploaded on the day we filmed. Obviously a lot more needs to be done 'til I get even nearly finished but it feels good having finally made a start.

Planning - Costume, Hair and Make-up

As Gracie is going to be the only one in the video, and there are no real, major costume changes only one costume needs to be planned for.
 

Throughout the video she'll be wearing her black, ankle length leather coat, with a black shirt underneath some black skinny jeans and her black converse.
 

 

I chose to go with the black shirt as it looks amazing, the white shirt simply didn't match the rest of the attire. Gracie actually has and incredibly Gothic waistcoat that I sold her because it barely fit anymore and it was far from my style. I figure this will look good with this outfit as it seems likely. Next time we do some filming,I'll have her bring the waistcoat along. Gracie independantly decided the studded choker should be added. I really like the choker, it makes the costume more alternative and less plain black however the plain blackness won't be an issue once the waistcoat ius added because although it is black it is also really cool.

 

The waistcoat is a black sort of denim material, the sleves look asthough the have been ripped off  which creates an awesome effect and it does up with a thickish steel zip along with keyring type clasps that lay over the zip. this should make the outfit look less boring and plain.

 

[Picture of waistcoat here]  [Picture of costume+ waiscoat here]

 

No major make-up should be required as her face is already very pale which will contrast the (/mainly) black costume and fit the alternative genre characteristics as a lot of alternative artists / actors in alternative videos are in dark clothing looking pale.
 

Gracie currently has dark brown hair, this may fit the video well and look good but if it doesn't then it wont be hard to make her hair look darker with brightness and contrast settings in editing. Her hair for this video will be made to be a bit messy so as to look industrial and alternative, but not so messy that it looks scruffy. 
 

Some of the scenes will just show Gracie lip-syncing to the track, these will be filmed in my house against the plain white wall of my bathroom, I think this is a good choice scene as there is a lot of natural light. For these scenes I may not have her wear the leather jacket and instead just have the shirt. As these kind of shots will be close ups - with just head and shoulders showing - it doesn't really matter what shoes and legwear are worn for these shots.

Planning - Actor/Actress

This is Gracie, probably my best friend. She will be playing the character of 10,000BC in my video and will be the "artist" of the song. The song is clearly voiced by a male; this isn't an issue as Gracie, previously Adam Saxton, is transgender and is thus biologically a dude despite feeling mentally that she is female. She has agreed, and wasn't offended with much relief to me, to play the guy in my video.

Planning - Name

After further thought into artist's alias, I've established that he will simple be know as '10,000BC' as oppsed to '10,000 Broken Chains' [Ten Thousand Broken Chains] and instead have the name '10,000BC' just stand for 10,000 Broken Chains. Just as the band 'H.I.M' [pronounced 'him'] go by 'H.I.M' but that stands for His Infernal Majesty.

 

The logo remains as what i posted on Tuesday.

Planning - Name and Logo

I had the idea to call the artist '10,000 Broken Chains' [Ten Thousand Broken Chains] instead of just 'Broken Chains' because it can then be shortened to '10,000BC' which is an awesome artist name because it sounds like the year 10,000BC. I have adapted the logo from the original and have produced this logo draft

I really like the idea of a crossed out zero meaning broken chain because it looks like a chain link, it is crossed out to show that it is a broken chain link rather than a normal one, and also because if it weren't crossed out it'd look like the artist was just called '100,000'.

 

I need to have more of a play around with fonts before I make final descisions on the logo.

 

Another logo idea that I have had since deciding on '10,000 Broken Chains' as the artist's name is to just have 10,000BC as the logo. I had the idea that I could use a more digital looking font to contrast the fact that 10,000BC was a very long time ago. Although this does look very cool, I have decided against this as I dont think the song sounds digital enough for the logo to properly apply.



 

After playing around a bit more on Dafont I have found a few examples of good fonts to use to make my artist's logo. Here are some that I thought looked cool.

Font names (top left to bottom right) 'Face Your Fears','Inky','Levi Brush','L.C Smith 5 Typewriter','Bad Gudge' and 'c39hrp48dhtt'.

My favourite out of these 6 designs is 'L.C Smith 5 Typewriter' as it looks alternative without looking scruffy like 'Levi Brush' or 'Face Your Fears' which look as though they'd fit better with a more harcore, metal band. The barcode styled one is the collest looking but like 'Digital 7', I feel it looks like it'd suit a more digital or electro band a bit better.

I've spent lots of time exploring fonts and have concluded I'm going to use the 10,000BC logo in the font 'L.C Smith 5 Typewriter'. I've decided this looks better than the crossed out '0' logo and it is more obvious that it is supposed to represent an artist called '10,000 Broken Chains'.
 

Finalised artist logo

 

Research - My Target Audience

To get a better idea of my target audience I took a look at the target audiences of the bads I looked at such as 'How To Destroy Angels' (HTDA), 'Nine Inch Nails'(NIN), 'Ministry' etc. and have deducted from this an idea of the audience that would enjoy the type of video I'm imagining I'll produce.

 

Trent Reznor's bands HTDA and NIN are aimed at a similar audience despite being music from very different genres (NIN make Industrial Metal music whereas HTDA make Post Industrial/Electronica music). Their audiences' are, particularly for Nine Inch Nails, are older (35-50 year old), Industrial, Alternative/Metal fans however a lot of their (NIN's) target audience was younger (20-25 year old) Industrial, Metal/Alternative fans back in the late 80's- mid 90's meaning most of their fans have aged with them whilst maintaining their like for the band's music.

I feel most of the people within NIN's, HTDA's and Ministry's audiences fall in the demographic range of E-C1 (maybe B also).

 

I feel my song applies well to a similar demographic as these bands; anyone from early 20s - late 40s. My song is  an Industrial Metal track so I feel it is also aimed at Alternative/Metal fans like NIN's music. However the song is quite fast paced, it is for this Reason I am picturing a fast paced, flickery video which applies more to a younger audience as I see thge product I am going to make to be energetic at the same time as looking industrial and alternative

Website Research - How To Destroy Angels

 

How To Destroy Angels' Website

Website Research - KORN (Changes)

Korn update their site the day after I made my last post. Their website is now themed to reflect their ablum newest album 'The Paradigm Shift'. The changes include the obvious background change; the page has now been made blue with what is made to look like dirt marks at the bottom. They have also added the giant, weird, translucent faces at the side which is the main element on the album cover.

 

The page colour scheme as also been changed; the frame around the youtube video player has been changed to fit the new theme and all the navigation links and stuff have been made yellow to contrast the new blue background. The Register/Log in button has been moved to the top of the screen so as to not abstruct the images (of the faces) at the sides, the button still remains in place when you scroll down as it did before.

Website Research - KORN

KORN WEBSITE

Mature Science - Retox

 

Goodwin

The brutality and violence is one way in which this video reflects the genre and the genre characteristics; frequently in metal video there is excessive rampage and violence. In the video as they pull the KKK guy out of the man, it appears all slimy and gross this relates to Goodwin’s words as the lyrics say ‘Lubricating our driest generation!’ This makes good point as he seems to be referring to racists and murderers as “our driest generation”. AS the record label demands there are lots of shot of the lead singer’s face along with lots of shots of the band members playing their instruments the final point of Goodwin’s theory that I can see in this video is the use of close ups on eyes and lights reflect the notion of looking

Mise en Scene

The use of static/glitch effect they have added in the editing right at the beginning has been used to show the violence and volatility of the music. The video also does this when the human body is ripped apart and when the klansman is killed. The building in which the video is filmed is shown as empty and possibly abandoned like the locations I am planning to try and use. I feel they have chosen this location to show that they know what they are doing to these people is illegal (despite not being wrong because obviously the other guy is supposed to represent someone whom in the KKK)

 

Camera

This seems to have been filmed mainly on handheld camcorders to create the same jittery, faced paced and disjointed. A low angle long shot is used as they are carrying the person around; they are shown scuttling around with this live body as if trying to get it somewhere quickly without getting caught.

Editing

In editing they have added in static glitches like an old TV playing a video and have put lines over the screen throughout to hold on to the old TV feel.

-

I really like this video and am going to try encapsulate a similar effect they have achieved from their editing however I also really like the use of playing clips backwards like they have done using trickling blood.

The Loop Closes - How To Destroy Angels

 

 

 

This is pretty much the sort of thing I want to have produced by the end of the year. I really like the whole general feeling of the video. I like the way that the video uses the a filter to create this affect of an old, broken television. I'm going to try reflect this in my video except using the shots I have listed earlier on this blog