Preliminary Task Finished Video

This is our finished video for our Preliminary Task. Overall I am disappointed with the outcome of this video. We failed to check that the camera was set up correctly and as a result we were left with extremely poor quality footage and with no extra time left to film we had no choice but to stick with it. We hadn't successfully planned out how to execute our moving tracking shot and this meant that camera was very wobbly as we had it balanced on an office chair which turned out to be an extremely poor decision as it had a huge impact on the quality of our footage. Not only this but the lighting within the video is also very poor and sometimes very overpowering. Finally the photo's at the beginning of the video look extremely unprofessional. 

Having said all this, we have been able to learn a lot from our mistakes and since making them we feel we are more prepared and In a better position for when It comes to creating our own music video later in the coursework. 

Preliminary Task Finished Digipack

FRONT

BACK

INLAY

Preliminary Task Filming Update

Today we successfully managed to film our preliminary task, the re-creation of the opening minute of Ed Sheeran Small Bump. We arrived at the surgery at 1:15pm and positioned all our equipment accordingly, the surgery was empty which made filming much easier. However we were unable to obtain any public extras or a doctor so we used Will as an extra in the background of the video and filmed without a Doctor however this didn't effect our filming too much. Myself and Jack took it un turns to capture the footage. We finished filming within thirty minutes after taking a number of takes as well as photographs for the video. Overall we felt filming went well, however we did encounter some issues regarding the steadiness of certain shots and lighting, both of which I will evaluate in a later post about the success of our finished Preliminary Task.

Preliminary Task Inlays

For our Inlay or inside cover we wanted to continue theme of destruction and death. We drew up the outline of a grenade as we felt the was a symbol of war representing both death and destruction that most people would recognise. We then decided to shade sections of the grenade with our blood red to give the grenade even more of a destructive feel. We also added a personal message and an "trademark" art signature to portray a more personal relation ship between artist and audience member however by inserting the text "rest in blood" we remained the inlays destructive nature. 

Here is our alternative Inlay design. Once again we felt that the grey, white and black colour scheme wasn't as effective. We also decided to make the grenade taller and thinner, again we decided our chosen design was more realistic and was overall a better choice for the image we were trying to create. Having said this I personally do prefer the "rest in peace " text style compared to that of our chosen design as I actually believe that It would have been a better choice of design to incorporate.

Preliminary Task Digipack Back Covers

For our back cover we once again wanted to design something that incorporated as much of our research into it as possible. We designed an image of a gravestone and then placed the songlist within it, we feel this gives our back cover the symbolism of death which we were looking for as it is a huge trend within Thrash Metal Digipacks not only this but It was to reference our front cover of a skeleton solider as death is a big part of war and fighting. We also chose a gory text style to compliment the feel of the back cover and the convention of death and suffering commonly found within Thrash Metal Digipacks, this was further enforced by the use of a blood red dripping from the message "Thank You" we felt that this would add sense of horror and once again a reference to death and destruction which ultimately was the image we were trying to portray. We also included a website, record label and a barcode three pieces of information that are usually found on most back covers. 

Here is our alternative design. We decided against having a grey, white and black colour scheme as we felt It wasn't as effective especially without the blood red dripping from the "Thank You message"

Preliminary Task Digipack Front Covers

For the front cover we decided we wanted to really enforce some of the conventions we had found during our research into Thrash Metal Digipacks. We wanted to include a text or font style that was distinctive as well as easily recognisable, we also wanted to give our cover a more destructive and deathly feel. We decided to place an image of a skull on the front cover as we felt it was perfect for the type or imagery we wanted to portray. We blurred our image to add a sense of mystery and fear. The reason behind giving our skull a military look by giving him a helmet was to both compliment our chosen artist name but also to give the front cover a sense of destruction and death something the military is linked to through war and it's consequences. Finally we also decided to give the eyes a sense of hidden identity. In war or battle you want to give the impression of great strength and dominance and we felt that a blood red would do this effectively. We also added some blood red to some of the text also.

We decided on a black background rather than a white as we felt It gave the album cover more of a dark or destructive feel. We also felt that having the title of the album worked better underneath the skull and the the artist name was better situated within the helmet. Not only this but we felt that the grey, white and black colour scheme wouldn't be as effective and was simply to dull to have as our album cover. Finally we also felt that the blur effect worked better than a blood stained hand as it  was more effective In portraying the image for the cover that we wanted. Here are our two alternative deigns: