Ancillary final Digipak

This is the final digipak that we created for our ancillary task. We used similar or the same images in our website and in digipak to keep the work fluent.
Front:

Back:

Inside back:

Ancillary final website

We had a few people have a look at the website including our teacher and the infomation that we got back was that the black and white wasnt working hugely well. So we have gone back to the idea of using colour. I really like the sepia feeling in the script website and this has followed through into the colour scheme in our final website. Here is our final website link please copy into address bar:

http://edsheeranmusic.webs.com/ 

Pitch questionnaire results

We managed to find 30 willing volunteers to give us some feedback over Facebook on our film pitch. This small debate was create and they simply ticked the box that they felt stronger for. Here is an image of how we did the voting:

Here are the three options that you could choose on what colorization you believed we should use.









Here are the results for our voting panel:


Clearly the voting came up trumps for the default settings on the camera. So we have decided to keep the normal colours.

Problems we faced

When you go out with a plan for filming it rarely sticks to that plan, we found new angels and shots that we hadnt thought of when planning. It was great to explore different angles and interesting placements of the camera. We got most of the shots we wanted and more to compare i the editing stage. The idea was to get more than enough footage so we had plenty to edit and get the best result. It wasn't all problems, when we got out of the house the camera worked much better and we found the colour especially in the green near the park. The trees and green bridge were very vibrant and we got some great shots of the couple here.

Our Pitch

Before we started filming we had to make a pitch for what we wanted to do and showcase the song itself. Then we'd get feedback from the people watching on any improvements that could be made to the story or if they think the song has problems. This is the video of our pitch:

Camerawork

We spent two days filming and had to gain the shots we needed on limited time. Our actress wasn't readily available and we have to prioritise other school work. So we went out with the intention to get a range of hand held and fixed shots that we had planned to obtain. On our first day we went out and used many hand held shots. But with the lighting and the quality of the camera it struggled to record great visualls. We kept to it and found our areas we could work in and found that we had used a few too many hand held shots. So we started to sit the camera in interesting angles and played with places to place it. We had the idea of putting it in plant pots. Strapping it to the leg of a table and many other ideas. We got creative and got more than enough footage.

Lighting

We faced some difficult issues with lighting, it started in the quality of the camera. The camera wasn't the best at picking up light and this began to create problems with inside lighting. The lighting inside the house was difficult to work with, even though it was 13:00 PM and was sunny inside the camera struggled and we could of done with a flood light or even a lamp. We persevered with the light and found angles and areas in the room that were ok to work in. However in the point of view shot when elliott looks at her and brings the mug up to the camera the lighting is quite poor. Outside is fine as the natural light worked well with the camera and we could work happy.

The next issue faced was the bowling, we went near to halloween and they had the halloween theme going on in there. So it was dark with glow in the dark and neon lights. So this flooded the camera with problems in the dark. We managed toget our shots and I think that they do work as at this point in the video its near the end when the day has gone on and its getting dark anyway.

Camerawork and editing

During the filming of or piece the amount of equipment needed to reach a finished piece, in our case, was very limited. We were restricted by the quality of the camera and the accessibility of it. Our school had to share 5 cameras between 50-60 of us. So we did worry about getting it all finished on time, but everything really did flow quite well for us. We didn't have a tripod so still images were hard to achieve and we found that our footage was mostly a bit shaky. But we made do and managed to get some really good footage. What came next was bringing all the footage together. We did this by using the editing suite at our school which had 5 apple mac computers. The software we used on theses was iMovie, an editing software that is very simple to use and deals with some basic effects. Such as simple transitions, Texts, image overlaying and a simple version of green screen. We found the editing part very stressful as we had some technical problems with the mac. But we carried on and have enjoyed doing it. The software was easy to get used to as we had used in the production of our media work last year. We used less of the colour overlays and editing software that's on iMovie and tried to rely more on just quick cuts.

Filming Diary

As i have not got internet at home and most our filming was done over the half term i could not update my progress on my blog as i couldnt access the internet. So i recorded my progress after each filming day on a note pad. This is what i wrote:

Day 1 of filming:
We began our filming today and have already started changing shots, angles and the story. We had predicted that this would happen as the angles dont always work and you find new ones when you reach your destination. The start of our filming did actually start with the drinking of the tea in the kitchin as we arived at Elliott's and wanted to just start. So began by filming the drinking of the tea and the making of it too. The making of the tea hadnt of even been thought of until that moment, so already changes were being made as we began to get creative. We found ways to start transtions within the visuals, for example making the screen go black ready to cut into a new scene. We began to over film and ended up with 20 minutes of footage just for the opening of the video. We were doing well with time and thought we could get some other filming done and as we started we realised the lighting was starting to change so we had to stop.

Day 2 of filming:
We started the travel part today and we found loads of new shots that we could include into the video. Once we excited the train we made our way to the arcade and spent about 20 mins trying to find a good shot to set the arrival at the arcade. We then entered and just went overboard with shots and interesting angles. On the way home we just filmed as much as we could and just forgot about our story board and the shot list we had

My website - where the idea came from

Before i started the creation of my website i looked into how other designers had created sites for other bands. I discussed earlier about Jose Gonzalez and what his site looked like. The information i gained was a simple approach to the structure and design. unlike the other sites i looked at such as the script's site. Which had a lot of work put into the design, which is also successful. So i had a simple decision to make on whether to have it simply made or tray and really go to town on the design. I eventually came to the conclusion that a simpler design would work much better. My first inspiration began with the new HTC mobile phone that has a live homescreen. It has a few panels that update themselves regularly which has become hugely successful. Each panel is a link to one of the phones applications such as facebook. They look like square boxes with letters and numbers in them relevant to that application. So i took the design the panels and filled them with the infomation about the artist that you would expect to find on a typical artits site.

Website design - ancillary

For our second choice we decided to create a website. Our decision was that I'd create the website and my partner would create the CD cover. So i came up with the idea of using the feet for the star image motif and started collecting drawings for the design of the site. I had the idea come having the banner as the feet and the name of the artist. As i wanted the site to have that simple feel, not too much going on with the colous, buttons and images. I kept i blank white back layer to set a blank canvas for the infomation and images. I have created my first prototype as you can see from this image. In the top left corner theres the image of the feet with 'Ed sheeran' and the name of the album/song that we're doing. Then like most websites there is a bar that has the titles to each main page of the site that usuall includes home, lyrics and clothing. To separate the titles from the main page a bar is usually dividing the two so i kept with the theme of feet and used a shoe lace. In the creation of the site i used two programmes, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver. Photoshop is the editing software that I used to edit the images and create the buttons, basically all the visualls! Then Dreamweaver is the software to bring all the components together into a website structure. The buttons are made easily by duplicating the image but changing the second in my case giving it a faded grey background. Then on Dreamweaver i add a box and make a rollover image. This means when the mouse goes over the image the second appears making it look like a button.

Lyrics for Little Bird

Little Bird

(Ed Sheeran 2009)

Part 1:
If we take this bird in        
With its broken leg                                                              
We could nurse it                                                                
She said
Come inside
For a little lie down with me
If you fall asleep
It wouldn’t be the worst thing
But when I wake up
Your make-up is on my shoulder
And tell me, if I lie down
Would you stay now
And let me hold you?
Visuals:
In this first part the boy wakes up, looks at the girl, gets up and goes down stairs. He starts making a cup of tea then goes upstairs to get the girl up, she throughs a pillow at him which then cuts to them walkin downstairs for the tea. They sit drinking tea and smiling a each other, as the tea comes up it cuts to them getting ready.

Part 2:
But if I kissed you
Will your mouth read this truth
Darling, how I miss you
Strawberries taste how lips do
And it’s not complete yet
Mustn’t get our feet wet
Cos that leads to regret
Diving in too soon
And I’ll owe it all to you
My little bird
My little bird
Visuals:
the camera follows her as she's getting ready then they get up and go to the door. The two exit, with a cut behind the two of them as they walk away. different shots of the two walking away and walking together. They reach a park and run to the entrance.

Part 3:
If we take a walk out
In the morning dew
We could lay down
So I’m next to you
Come inside
For a little home-made tea
If you fall asleep
Then at least you’re next to me
And if I wake up
You see, it’s late, love
Go back to sleep
I’m covered by nature
And I’m safe now
Underneath this oak tree
With you beside me
Visuals:
There is low angle of the two walking towards the train station. This is followed by quick cuts of buying tickets and gettin onto the platform. Another low angle of the train as it comes in and the two jump on.
Part 4:
But if I kissed you
Will your mouth read this truth?
Darling, how I miss you
Strawberries taste how lips do
And it’s not complete yet
Mustn’t get our feet wet
Cos that leads to regret
Diving in too soon
And I’ll owe it all to you
My little bird
My little bird
Visuals:
The two get to the destination and there is a few shots of the two walking to the arcade. Once at the arcade the two go to the till. They then go into the arcade and start playing some of the games.

Part 5:
And of all these things
I’m sure of
I’m not quite certain
Of your love
And you made me scream
But then I made you cry
When I left that little bird
With its broken leg to die
Visuals:
A mix of shots follow of the two playing the games. With mix of angles showing the two playing games. they then make there way to he bowling.

Part 6:
But if I kissed you
Will your mouth read this truth
Darling, how I miss you
Strawberries taste like lips do
And it’s not complete yet
Mustn’t get our feet wet
Cos that leads to regret
Diving in too soon
And I’ll owe it all to you
My little bird
My little bird
You’re my little bird
Visuals:
as it says 'but if i kissed you' there is a clip of her kissing him on the cheek. the two exit the arcade and cuts to them in a cafe. it cuts back to them on the train again making theyre way home. as the sky has gone dark and the lights flash past the screen fades black and rewinds to the start.