Finished Digipack In Full

Above are copies of the completed digipack in full. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Permission To Use Actor

Above is a scan of the permission sheet that our actor and their parent/guardian had to sign because they are under the age of 18 and not part of the media studies course.

Final Website

Final Website

This is our final website which we've completed and submitted before the deadline, which was last Thursday. I changed the website slightly from the last edition which I posted below, the major thing which I changed was the layout of the website. I lined the website up so that you could see the main singers face, to enhance the profile of the band. This has made the website a lot cleaner, and with a more organised layout. This makes it look more like a website which is professionally made.  We've manipulated images, used technology, used appropriate fonts and relevant pictures on this website which is all noted in the mark scheme.

Planned Filming

We have booked filming equipment that we are going to take out over the christmas holidays. We are planning to film the final stage of our film which should mean that this is put last shoot providing it goes well.

We will be filming the break in and arrest section of the music video. This is the part when the main character will break into the house and then be arrested by the police.

We do not actually have a date that we will be definitely be filming but we have several dates in mind that we can possibly film so we should have no problem in filming before college starts again after christmas.

QR Code Allowing Complete Integration - James Bolton

When we were applying the barcode onto the back of the CD Digipack, I thought it would be a good idea if we could integrate what is known as a QR Code (See below).

This is similar to a barcode and they are being used more and more often in the modern media. The idea is that using your smartphone, you can read this barcode using an app or your camera. The code is then recognised by the phone and you are directed to a relevant website. These are often used to give the customer access to exclusive content, downloads or deals. So, I had the idea of applying one of these to the CD Digipack, which could direct cutomers to the band's website so they can claim a free copy of the music video that goes with the main song on the EP or Digipack. This is a great example of how we are not only integrating the video, digipack and website visually (ie, all three are connected by the content, theme and images), but digitally. The CD directs them to the website which directs them to the video. As I mentioned, this is very common in the modern media, and as our target audience is people from around 15-35 (common smartphone owners), this is a great way to sell our band and make customers even more connected and interested with the artist. It gives us complete Cross Media Integration.

To create this QR Code, I used the website http://www.qurify.com/en/
You simply type in the text that you want the customer to see when they scan the code, generate the image and download it.
The text we chose was "Visit us at www.thefutureheads.co.uk and type in the following code to claim your free copy of our video for 'Sun Goes Down'! **CODE**"

A screen grab of the website used to generate the code.

A relevant section was added to our website's homepage so it is simple and easy for the people to claim their free video.

Below is a copy of what appeared when I scanned the QR code myself on my Blackberry.

Often these codes don't work when they are covered. So the protective plastic that goes across CDs in shops would prevent someone from just scanning the code and claiming their video, rather than them actually buying the CD, then claiming their code.

As you can see from the picture below, we opted to place the QR Code on the bottom left corner on the back of the digipack, along side the regular barcade. We also included instructions for the user, that will get their attention and encourage them to claim their free video.

Digipack Progress 3

Onto the spine we've also added text. This is name of the band and the track. We used the Dirty Headline font that we found on Urban Fonts and we are using that throughout our texts; the Digipack and the website.

I also added the relevant and necessary barcodes onto the back of the back of the digipack, and I came up with the idea of using a QR Code as well, which will give us complete integration of all three of the products we're making. I have explained this in another blog post.

This is the inside of the digipack where the CD will go. We decided to type out the lyrics to song, as this is often typical of indie digipacks. We stuck with the black and white theme, and then added a marroon circle to show where the CD would actually go in relation to the panel. I then decided it would be a good idea to highlight part of the text in white. We chose the line "the sun goes down and the double life begins", because not only is it the main line from the song, but it simulates the main theme of the narrative in our video. We also added a spine to the inside. We copied the one from the outside of the digipack and simply inverted the colours, so black became white and white became black.

We're pleased that despite the mix up with the lost photos, we were able to co-ordinate obtaining new photos, as well as making the digipack and website in time for the deadline on Thursday 15th December.

Words by James Bolton

Website Progress 4

This is our website just before the final stage, we have everything on the website but we just need to choose what kind of layout we're going to have. This is virtually finished with the navigation bar, and all links to different types of technology all linked to the place where they should be. We have manipulated our background so it fits with the grey background that we have around the side of it. This is one of the final versions of the website, we just need to decide on what the final layout of the website is going to be.

Website Progress 3

Our Website currently.

This is what our website looks like at this current moment with the deadline on Thursday. We've made developments today and we've managed to sort the background which is the three members of the band stood for a police mug-shot, as you can see above. This fits in with our video and we feel that it's an interesting background for our site. We've manipulated the image and merged them together changing the lighting so they fit together without looking out of place. We've also made the photo black and white so it fits with the album cover which we have to make similar to our website. We also had to widen the website so that the background wasn't pixelated and distorted so we're going to add a few more things on the website, which weren't planned. We've also changed the opacity of the text boxes on the website, this was done so that you can see the picture behind them and I feel it's a nice touch as it's similar to the current Futureheads website. I'm yet to change the colour of the navigation bar, but that should be easily done, but we're not quite sure what colour to have it yet. 

We're just adding the final touches to the website. We've got sufficient technology links on there with links to iTunes, Twitter, Facebook and The Futureheads Youtube channel. The main things that we have to do is add the two pictures in the top left corner, we also need to change the title font to the font which we've downloaded off the internet. Also as well as that we have to add a couple of articles on the website so it looks populated. Finally we're going to add a video on there so fans can watch the music which The Futureheads are currently producing, this is something which you see on lots of band websites now. We're very confident that this will be finished by the Thursday deadline, because we have the two hours on Wednesday, and then we can stay behind after that lesson if need be.

Digipack Progress 2

Below are some more screen shots of the progress I have made on our digipack. This is the editing process for the front and back covers of the digipack. 

Again, for the image we cropped, transformed and scaled the image to make it square. We then played around with the saturation and brightness effects to try and make it look like a flash is being taken by a camera. Making the image brighter also emphasises the black and white board, making the track list more prominent.

We then added the front cover to the digipack and tested it with the same effects as the back of digipack. Unfortunately the effect we used gave a slight green reflection on both the images, due to the green screen where we took the photos. We tried to use the patch tool again, but that didn't really improve it, so therefore we decided to change the whole thing into black and white (below)

On here, the boards are still very prominent and it gives a dark feel to the digipack. The website is also in black and white, with the band mug shots edited in the same way to allow intertextuality and integration. When it comes to editing the video, we will have the mug shot scenes in black and white too.

Words by James Bolton

Digipack Progress 1

Below are some screen shots of the progress we have made with our Digipack so far. We have retaken the photographs and managed to include those this lesson.

The above screen shot in the picture of the main character in the office which signifies the day time section of the video. This will be the inside cover of the digipack with the night time section making up the front of the digipack. We cropped, transformed and scaled the image in order to make it from a rectangle into a square so that it would fit. This image didn't require any other editing, as we wanted it to be natural and resemble the footage we've filmed.

The above screen shot is editing the front of the Digipack. On the mug shot boards we made, there was a few blemishes so we used the patch tool on Photoshop in order to cut out a section that wasn't right, and replace it. Photoshop then merges the two shapes together to make it look clean and so it clearly fits. We're also going to do this with the height chart and extend the lines so they extend across the wall.

Words by James Bolton

New Height Chart

Unfortunately the original height chart that I made was the wrong size for when we tried to take the photos. I wrote three individual charts horizontally across the page, which meant there wasn't enough room above and below the scale, so the background of the wall could be seen in the photos. Hopefully I have iradicated that problem with the new chart. It is taller, but there are two sheets taped together to make sure it is still the required width and I have done just one scale this time, and for the website, we will merge the three photos together, rather than having one photo with all three band members in it. As our photos were lost we're retaking them tomorrow in college on one of our own digital cameras. We'll upload them onto the Macs on monday and get to work on arranging the digipack and website. Below are some photos on me making this new height chart.

Last Years Website Analysis 2

I have now decided to look at two of the lower mark websites from last years A2 students at Bilborough College. These got around the 4/5 out of 10 mark and they're at least 4 marks worse than the websites which I looked at last week, which can be seen at this link here.

Apples Go Miles - Samantha Shephard & Hayley Webster - click here for the website.

This website is a lot more simple then the websites which I looked at last week, the background does not seem to fit with the rest of their website which means it doesn't have a consistent house style, which all good websites have. They do have an example of new technology links with pictures of Facebook and Twitter, but they do not actually work, which is something simple that they've elected not to do. The site has appropriate pictures from the music video, and the band performing which is something which I like about this particular website. They've manipulated the photos and made them black and white which is something else which is necessary to gain marks. Something which I feel lets them down is the background of their website, it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the site and it seems a bit of a rushed job. Also their articles on the website don't seem like they're very realistic and the font doesn't really fit with the website they've made.


MGMT - Kieran Booker, James Bowler & Jon Watson - click here for the website


This website is quite basic compared to some of the other websites I looked at, which is why it got around 5 out of 10. The good points of the websites are that it has numerous links to technology even though they don't work, which is a prominent feature in websites nowadays. The website is also colourful (ignoring the background) and happy which matches the theme of the band, MGMT, who are a quite upbeat happy band. The problem is that the black background drags the rest of the website down, and it seems like it should be from a band of a different genre. Also there is not enough writing on the website, which means that it isn't very informatve and it isn't using the correct language, or layout of a website.

Sped Up Shot Progress

This is the sped up shot that we will be using for the music video, we filmed this at the office and we have edited by speeding it up 5 times, this is the most that it could be sped up by on this version of iMovie. Ideally we would of liked it to be a little bit quicker but we are happy with this overall. This clip will be used for 14 seconds of the first verse 24 seconds into the song.

The idea of this clip is to show that the main character doesnt want to be at work and while everyone else is fine at work this character feels as if the day is going very slowly. We had other charachters walking behind clearly working to really show the effect that we are trying to create.

This clip is the exact right length for the clip that we need. So far we have not edited much more of the music video but we edited this as it is quite a significant part of the video. We will focus more on the editing of the video after the CD and website have been completed as the deadline for these is very soon.

Written by Alex Beale

Website Progress 2

Website Progress

This is what the website currently looks like, and it has developed a lot since the last time I showed you how much I'd done. With next Thursday's deadline looming I've began to get a real template together of the website that we're looking to create. We've got the title and the navigation bar for our website, along with Facebook and Twitter links which go directly to The Futureheads Twitter and Facebook. We've also got the mailing list at the bottom along with the tour date along the side. The background is not the background we're going to have, we're having pictures from a shoot, that we've not yet done. At the top left there are two white boxes, they're going to be filled with pictures. They were originally going to be from band performance, but due to a mistake with the camera they will now be from the video and on the "Double Life" theme.

Still Image Shoot

After the issues we had at our last filming session where we lost our still images we've decided that because one of the shots was on our website cover we're going to have to take them again. We've organised the date is this Friday to go into the office and take the pictures, thankfully we were able to secure a date to re-do the pictures before the Thursday deadline. This time we go to take pictures we'll be using one of our own digital cameras to make absolutely sure that we do not have any problems this time, after the college camera was wiped last time. That was a real set back with the deadline in just over a week leaving us without a CD cover picture or a picture for our website, but we've thought round the website idea and we'll be able to take the CD cover one again, so luckily we'll manage to not let us affect the group too much.

Something we will have to make sure is that the actor is wearing the same clothes at what he was in the first shoot, to make sure that the continuity looks correct. We've organised the actor and the location very quickly due to the deadline, and dealt well with our setback meaning we've not lost too much time over it.

Still Image Problems

When we shot our footage in the office (Saturday 26th November) and at the skittle alley for the performance (Monday 28th November), we also took a stills camera with us so we could take pictures for both the CD Digipack (Inside left image of the character sat at the desk) as well as various pictures of the band performing which were supposed to go onto the website.

Unfortunately, these photos have been wiped from the camera before we had chance to upload them. We were not aware of the procedure that the technicians have to be told that we have photographs that require saving. If they are not told, they assume there is nothing on there and the photos are deleted.

We are therefore missing:

• Office picture for the CD Cover
• Performance for the website
• Band mug shots

We have some photos of the above shots, but they were pictures we took on our mobile phones to demonstrate the filming or setting up process, rather than to be used as the actual digipack or website, therefore these photos aren't the required quality, they contain the camera/cameraman and just don't look at all appropriate.

Due to the deadline being so close (9 days) and the logistical issues of transport and liaising with the location as well as getting our actor, equipment (stills camera, tripod etc), instruments (drum kit, guitar, microphone and stand) and other essential items for the instruments that weren't provided by the college that we had to source ourselves from friends and family (drum sticks, plectrums, guitar strap), it wont be possible to go back to the performance location to acquire the two necessary photographs.

We therefore have decided to come up with an alternative to go onto the website to replace the images of performance that have been lost. Our idea is to take photos at the third location, which we are yet to shoot, and take photos of one of the shots. This shot is a split screen close up of the actor in the day and at night, which emphasises the 'double life' concept behind the video. We will set up a link on these images or add text that says by clicking on the image they will be taken to a page to watch our video.

For the office shot that will go on the CD, we are going to investigate the possibility of returning to the location to get the photograph. This too will involve liaising with the location, getting transport and bringing the relevant costume and props.

The band mug shots were not 100% ideal the first time we took them. We need to create a new height chart, as unfortunately the original one we took to the shoot on Monday 28th November was slightly too small. This can be done in college by pinning the chart to the wall in the media classroom and taking the photos with our other actor. The location is less relevant for these photos as the only background will be the height chart, not the actual location. The costume will obviously have to be the same and the relevant props will have to be brought into college.

Despite the mix up and the fact we weren't aware of the fact our photos would be wiped the day that the camera was handed in, we have explored alternatives and ways to either change or retake the photos we need.

Shoot Two - On Set Photographs

Words by Alex Beale.

Below are some photos that we took on shoot 2, this was filmed at The Crown pub in Awsworth on Monday 28th November. This shoot was for filming the performance shots of our music video.

As you can see from the photos James was the lead singer and Andy was the Guitarist in the band. This meant that I was filming and directing, with help from James and Andy. The photos we took show some of us setting up the set for the shoot which included the bands instruments and setting up the camera and the tripod.

We also have photos which show some of the performance being filmed, these photos have both the camera and the band in the shot. We also took some other shots which don't have the camera in which we are planning to use on the CD and on the website as they show live performance which is an essential element of an indie band. We will upload the photos in other post.

We think that the shoot went well as we got around forty minutes of footage which will need to make up just less than half of the music video, however we will only really know how well we did when we upload the footage to iMovie and start to edit it as we will then know whether the lip sinking and the performance has worked as if the timing is out or the instruments don't look as if they are being played then the video would look unconvincing and unprofessional.

We will be be doing most of the editing after the deadline for the Website and CD cover, this is because although we have enough people in the group to be doing all three we only have the use of two Macs to work on, this means that the CD and Website take priority at the moment as we don't have as much time to finish these. 

                   Andy setting the drums up                 James, Andy and Jack - Performance

                    Alex setting the camera up                James, Andy and Jack- Performance

James and Jack setting up

Shoot One - On Set Photographs

Words by James Bolton.

In this post I have included some still images that I took on my mobile phone while we were on set at the office shooting the first sequence of our music video. The pictures include us setting up the costume, filming various shots from various positions as well as taking pictures on the stills camera that will later be used for our CD Digipack.
Alex played the part of the main character, while myself and Andy filmed the shots, directed Alex and also featured in the background for the lengthy shot that we will speed up so the background is moving quickly, while Alex appears to be moving at normal speed.

Clockwise from above: Top left - Alex preparing his costume
Top right - I film a close up tracking shot of Alex
Bottom - Andy takes some photographs for the CD Digipack

Clockwise from above: Top left - Me and Andy review some of the CD Digipack shots
Top right - I frame the shot correctly for the CD Digipack allowing head room etc
Bottom - Andy practices photos from a possibly location in the office

Successful Shoots

We have now filmed our first two shoots for our music video. The first shoot that we carried out was filmed at the Siemens office in Wollaton (Andys Dads work), this shot was for the office scences of the music video. These shots will all be used towards the start of the music video as they are the day time scence while our main character is at work. The most important of these shots that we filmed was the shot which we will speed up. This is where the character is sat at the office desk working and everyone else is moving very quickly behind him. This effect is to imply that he feels as if time is going slow and that he cant wait to finish the day and begin his double life. We think that this shoot went very well as we got all the shots that we needed and also some other shots that we just tried out on the day.

The second shoot that we have now filmed is the performance elements of the music video, this is probably the most important and challenging part of the video as with performance filming you have to make sure that the lip sinking is correct as well as other featurs such as the other band members and all the other things that you would have to consider when filming any shoot such as lighting, white balence, focus etc. We shot the performance at The Crown pub in Awsworth. On this shoot we got around about 40 minutes worth of footage, not all of it will be useful but we think that will this amount we will be able to get the right shots.

When we have edited some clips of both of the scence we will upload clips to the blog to show our progress. We think that we may be filming our final scence on the 17th December but we are yet to confirm this. On this shoot we will be filming the rest of the narrative side to the performance, this will be the part where the character breaks into the house, it will also include the stop motion part where the tie is being removed.

Directors Cut - Shoot 1

This is the directors cut that we recorded before we filmed on Saturday, in this we briefly explained what we had planned to film on that day. On Saturday we filmed all the shots for our office/work scene, this included one of our main and most important shots, the sped up shot. We also filmed shots of our main character walking to and from his desk and also in and out of work. We felt that this shoot went well as we successfully got all of the shots that we had planned to film, we also got a few extra shots that we tried out just to see if they would work any better than the ones we had planned in our shot list. On this shoot we also took some photos which we are planning to use on the CD cover, we also took some photos of ourselves filming and setting up the camera and equipment which we will be uploading to the blog.

The next shoot that we have planned is the performance section of the song, we are going to be filming this at the pub skittle alley tonight. We have all the equipment booked including drums, microphone, guitar, camera, tripod and some other smaller items.

Making The Height Chart

To go with the mug shot boards that we have already made, we had to make a height chart that would be the background for various shots on the website, CD digipack and for in the video itself.
To make it, I found a long roll of paper and start at 6 foot 6 and went down in gaps of 3 inches, but still leaving room at the top and bottom so it would take up the whole shot. I used a thick black font so it would be easily readable and did 3 different charts along the roll. I did this in case it would be easier to take the image for the background of the website with all three of the band members in shot, rather than taking 3 individual photos and merging them together.

Above are photos of me making the chart as well as one of the final outcome. We will take this on our shoot on Monday along with the boards.

Making The Mug Shot Boards

In preparation for this weekends shooting we have been making the props for the mug shots. Originally we were unsure whether we would print the boards in order to get our chosen font exactly right, however, when I went to the stationary shop to look for black paper, I found a white paint pen and some stencils, so I thought we could test that first and hand write them rather than printing them off of the computer. I also located some chalk boards slightly larger than A4. I coloured in the edges of them white so there was room to stick the A4 paper onto it. It would also give the boards a rigid look, rather than the character just holding up a piece of paper, they will be holding something that is fair close to the real thing.

Resources for making the boards: Paint pens, letter stencils, black paper, black chalk board, rule and white crayon.

Myself and Andy made the boards. We ruled lines across the sheets of paper in order to create the appearance of slots (where letters are usually pinned on mug shot boards). We then stencilled the letters and drew over them using the paint pen. We made 9 in total, 3 for website, 2 for the CD Digipack and 4 for the video itself. The photos below show myself and Andy making the boards.

Below are some test shots that I took on my mobile phone to see if the boards look appropriate and to see if our idea worked. The photo on the bottom is the equvilant of the part of the background image for the website, and the photo on the top is the back of the digipack. I think that the boards have worked well and they look very realistic. For both photos, the height chart will be behind, I will explain that in another post.

Weather For Shoot

I have checked the weather for Saturday 26th of November because we're filming that date and a small section of our film is going to be filmed outside. The weather for that day is sunny and cloudy with rain late at night, as we're filming in the morning it'll be fine for us to film without rain if the forecast is correct.

Saturday's weather forecast

That's good for our filming as it makes camera shots and editing a lot easier without having to worry about the continuity of the rain. If we were to refilm a certain shot we'd have to make sure we did it on a day with similar weather conditions.

Main Character's Costume - Office/Day Time

The main character is going to be working in an office for the first part of the video, before he changes into the outfit that he will rob the house in ("Double Life Begins"). For the scenes in the office, and the stop motion sequence, the character will have to wear a shirt and tie to fit with the fact he is obviously at work.

Left: White shirt, blue tie.
Right: Red shirt, black tie.

Costume Arrival

Today, the balaclava that I ordered arrived in the post in plenty of time for shooting this weekend.

Left: I tried on the balaclava, and it is giving us the right look for the character of the robber.
Right: The balaclava.

CD and Digipack Font Research

As I am responsible for the CD and digipack, I am doing some research into the fonts that can be used. The text we have on the CD cover is:

1. Front Cover - Band name and song name on the board.
2. Back Cover - Track listing on the board
3. Inside Cover or 4th Side - Possibly the lyrics to the song.

It is important we recreate the font that "The Futureheads" use when they display their name, in order to fit with the style and image of the band. Below is a screenshot of the band's website and a copy of 4 of their CD covers, that I made when looking at the bands image on a previous post.

As you can see, the band name is in a simple, black, block font. By clicking on the images, you can see, particularly on the website, that the font has a slightly worn and faded look. Therefore, I found this font on UrbanFonts.com, and thought it was a fairly close match. It is called "Dirty Headline".

I think this font would be appropriate for the website, but maybe not for elements of the CD cover. The font needs to be appropriate for the mug shot board that will be held up. This font will feature on not only the CD cover, but the website background image and in the video itself, when the character holds up the board, displaying four different lines of lyrics, as demonstrated on the following blog post.

I therefore have found a selection of fonts that I think would be appropriate ones to copy and recreate to go on the mug shot boards. The target font can be seen below in this example mug shot photograph. It is still a block sans-serif (without flicks) font but with thinner lettering.

Click to enlarge.

Here are the possible fonts, found from another font website DaFont.com:

Old Sans Black

Roadway

Go Long

Tratex

Of the four suitable fonts that I found, I think either Old Sans Black or Tratex would be the best, because the letters are not taller than they are wide, as in the above mug shot. However, if it is difficult to perfectly recreate these fonts, a block, sans serif font with thin lettering will fit with the conventions and image we are trying to create.

To make the 9 boards we need, we will probably print out the lettering but with black background and white text, and attach it to a black sheet of paper, which we then attach to a black chalkboard, so it is rigid, easier to hold, and more realistic to look at.