Setting up the Studio

Setting up the Studio

Prior to filming our band shots in the studio, we needed to plan and prepare it. We noticed during our research, that a primary focus was the lighting. To avoid our shots looking cheap or unprofessional we set up 4 VISIO DMX Dimmer Lights behind where the band would go.

Once we positioned and angled the lights, we realised we wanted to add a more ethereal, ambient effect. By doing this we got hold of a roll of Blue Tinted Plastic and taped it over the cameras. For full effect we double layered the plastic, ultimately adding a blue tint to the lights.

We also realised, that with this blue tint, we could change the colour the colour balance in post production and easily modify the hue, meaning we can have the lights to look any colour we want without majorly distorting the colours of the band/actors.

Choosing a Font

Choosing Font Types

As we are in the process of constructing our final images for the digipak, we have realised that the type face we use for our text is vitally important. To explore and decide on the type of font(s) we have used the website 'dafont.com' to view and try out some different type faces. 

When planning our digipak we decided that we want to keep the front cover very simple, with perhaps just a single image and the band name and/or the single name. We have decided this after researching some band album covers for inspiration earlier on in the project.

We are still unsure whether to include both the band name and the single name on the digipak front cover but we have decided that the majority of the text as well as the company logo will feature on the back cover of our digipak.

We have decided that the font we want has to be quite scrawled as if it has been hand written, however we still want it to be fairly legiable. This type of handwritten/calligraphy style font fits in with our chosen genre and matches the generic conventions of that genre. Some of the images of the fonts we tried out can be seen below. 

Digipak Construction

Digipak Construction

After taking images at an industrial location I have used Photoshop to manipulate my images in order to create a final image that will used on one of the panes of the digipak.

Using layers, various blending modes and multiple images i have created a final image that represents the industrial part of the planned digipak. The screenshots below show how I have overlaid images and decided what blending modes work best.

The image to the left shows the layers palette and how i have used multiple images with different blending modes in order to create the final image. 

To fit in with the stylistic conventions of our chosen genre I have added noise and film grain in the image to give it a grainy, old style film look. I also darkened the edges of the final image and boosted the contrast so that the final piece looks like an old style photograph.

To incorporate the idea of nature combining with industry and match the style of our music video i have tried experimenting with various colour overlays. The screen shots below show overlaying browns and yellows to create a monochrome image. 

The final image can be seen below.  

 

Testing Camera Footage & Choosing Camera

In order for our video footage to be the best it can be we have decided to test out different cameras, lenses and focal ranges to see which camera best suits our interests and plans for the final music video.

First we have borrowed a camera from college, a Panasonic HC-V110 2.51 MP Camcorder - 1080i

We used this camera in the studio with a few close ups of each character to test the focal range and depth of field of this camera. However we found that this camera was not as advanced for the shot types that we have planned on doing. For example we cannot do very good pull focuses with this camera and our planned footage includes a lot of them. The two videos below show the result from this camera.

 

After analysing this footage we have decided to use my own camera which is a Canon EOS 650D.

We have tested this camera out with some reccee footage on the beach location that we have planned - see blog post 'Testing Camera Focus & Tracking Shots'.