Editing Update: Font Placement

One of the most challenging elements we have come across so far whilst constructing our digipak is the issue of where to put what font.

It is difficult because sometimes it just doesn't quite work. However, we have found a trial and error method works best; we try the font in a new place, and save that image as a separate file into a different folder. We then look through all of these saved images and discuss and compare which layouts work best.

This has happened on both the front and back covers, which we have been focusing on for now, as the inside is pretty simple. 

The only error with our system is that it is quite time consuming, however we have been able to schedule it in and can justify the time it takes with the (hopefully successful) outcome. 

Editing Update: Choosing The Images

Having taken so many photos during the shoot, we had a huge selection to choose from. We did this by copying certain photos each of us liked into an additional folder, which narrowed it down to about 20 images. From here, we just discussed what we thought would work best, and also asked fellow classmates for their opinion too.

We have decided the front cover will be a close up of the main actor in the music video with the powder paint splatted over her face. It is a very strong visually eye-catching piece and really suits the iconography of both our music video and album in general.

For the inside left, we have chosen to have an extreme close up of her eye, which is again another very powerful photo.

For the inside right (which sits behind the CD) we have gone for a close up of her lips, which links to those which appear in our music video. However, we are also considering keeping this and the CD plain matte black, as too much colour may be overwhelming.

Finally, for the back cover, we have chosen a back view of the actor, i.e. it is the back of her head. We will align this either to the left or the right, leaving a black space for the song list to go.

We are really happy with the images so far, and have been tweaking them in photoshop - slightly altering the lighting, contrast and saturation levels to make the photos reach their full potential.

Editing Update: Export Disaster!

We were at the stage where we were ready to export our film out of Final Cut Pro and all was going well until our trusty Mac, Sean, had a complete meltdown!

This was a complete disaster as the whole of our music video, including ALL original shoots and footage was on this particular mac's hard drive. We were really worried that we were going to lose all of our work and would have to start from scratch. It was an extremely tense time but we were hoping for the best.

Luckily, our IT Technician managed to work his magic and save the file, however it was not exported in the best quality it could have been, but frankly we were happy to have it at all!

We have now uploaded our video up onto YouTube and are able to breathe a big sigh of relief.

Editing Update: Decision Making

After importing the footage from the two shoots we have done and editing it together, we still feel like it is missing something. To solve this, we decided to brainstorm as a group how we could solve this, and after going through more dance music videos, saw that there is often an element of performance within the piece.

So we have decided to do a third shoot which will mean we can embed the element of performance into our music video. We will film close-ups of people's lips covered singing the lyrics, covered in powder paint splatters so as the theme is continued and maintained throughout. We are going to use females only for this shoot as the paint will look more striking and lipstick-like rather than messy.

Additionally, to give the music video even more energy, we are going to do a shoot where we smash china plates. This action holds many connotations to do with love and relationships. We also think it would look really effective if we put a little mound of powder paint on the plate before we drop it, so as when it hits the ground, it is an explosion of colour and glass.

We think this will help break up the sequence a bit, as currently the powder paint fight and studio footage looks very dynamic and striking at the beginning, but it feels a little repetitive at times. It also means we will have employed narrative, concept and performance into our music video which broadens its appeal.