Today's Progress

Today i've been going through all our footage and splitting up the separate shots and labeling them with what they are, ready for them to be put into the timeline next time according to our written storyboard.

Final Website and Digipak Designs

These are the final designs for the Digipak, inside and out.

For the front cover we decided to use an image of the band and 'Robert Smith' holding a dolls head, representing the female actress in the music video. The way the colours have been effected is similar to how we plan to effect the colours in the video, including the colour bleaching at the top.
The image on the fron cover originally wasn't tall enough, so we extended the already bleached top upwards into white, which gave us plenty of space for the band's logo.
We have used the same logo we designed for the website on the cover, as well as the font we used for titles/subtitles for the song names/album name.
On the back we liked the look of this image taken during filming, as we liked the colours and the composition, we thought it would look effective with the song titles down the middle between the band members.
The copyright information was adapted from an existing digipak, but modified to fit our band and record label (Lies Records). The barcode was from an open-source/royalty free website found through google.



The inside of the digipak took more work than the outside.  The image on the left was originally a portrait shot and much narrower, as well as less colourful or exposed. In photoshop we added some exposure to the top of the image, and a yellow hue, as well as reflecting and warping the edges to extend the image outwards further. On the right side, we wanted a brick pattern, similar to the other side. We took a selection of the image on the left, made a pattern from it, and used that, with some colour editing (a simple linear black-to-white gradient layered above it created the dark to light effect) and tweaking. We couldn't decide what to do for the CD itself, though we had already placed the logo and title on there. It was suggested by a teacher that the fishnet pattern from 'Alice Glass's tights would look visually interesting, so we took a selection from an image, created a repeating pattern and enlarged it, creating a kaleidoscope effect.

Overall, I'm very happy with the Digipak design, and I think it reflects the band and music video well.

Final Website

This is the final design for our website. We decided to widen the main column from our last stage of design, and so move the Links and squares (Media, Merch etc.) into a grid shape, as opposed to simply down the side.
We also added a link to forum, and a space to Login or Register for it.
As well as this, we added Thumbnails of some images from the shoot in the News Feed. Given more time we would have added more hyperlinks to things such as the thumbnails, and the links at the bottom (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and RSS Feed) and separated 'Media' into 'Photos', 'Music' and 'Videos'.

second shoot short reviewing clips

 I wanted to capture on screen a personal review of the shoot and how it goes and with the input of the boys. It captures the essence of the enjoyment of the task I feel.

website update and comparison to initial design

Completing the website consisted of finishing touches, eg extending the black space so that the title could be bigger and the information too. I redid the video capture to make it look better so that it didn't say 0.00 for the length of the video which was an error but instead 3.51 and so the starting image looks intresting and well framed. Every word font very similar to the title with the 'old and cracked' style.

Comparing it to the initial plan of the website you can see some major changes but at the time of creation we had been inspired by various other things to enhanceour website. The idea of having a repeated picture of a run down wall links in with our idea of 'witch-house' music and the working class, with bricks being the background within shots in the video and on the cd cover also. We wanted this wall to consist of darker colours such as blues, greys and browns to go with the dingey effect of the band, but not so dark that it's black so it does stand out from the black inside strip. Initially we were to have the news feed in the middle but after trying it out and moving it around we decided it looked better on the left hand side, so that all different page icons could be grouped together. The website needed a big photo of us to clearly indicate the duo and thus having it merged in with the title and at the top in the middle, to fit website conventions.

More Website Progress

We've really started to flesh out the website design now, for example, adding an image for the MERCH link and transparent GIFs for other media (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and an RSS Feed). It's coming together nicely now, and all that needs adding to it now is images of the Band (beneath the Logo Masthead) and the final CD Cover image within the STORE link box, as well as more links in the Navigation Bar at the very top.

Photoshoot of Crystal Castles

Today I had very clear ideas of how I wanted us all to pose and the locations in which every shot should be taken, with the ideas of smoking and drinking present in quite a few shots. The brick theme is key because it's quite working class image and I knew the colours would work well. As I myself are in the shots, I gave the camera to a person and directed them upon exactly how I want every shot to look and I gave direction to the other actors as to how to pose with their bodies and faces and with the props, within every shot. I was overall very happy with the photos and I feel that my editing skills just added to them.

 I edited the image with contrast to lighten the colours and add a yellow tint, making the top of the photo look sunkissed which looks quite magical and cool, a good place to put any writing for the digipack. The idea of the dolls head is because the prop is quite quirky, it was very spontaneous on the day but we thought it looks like our female actress in the video with the blonde hair and blue eyes. It looks as if the neck is on my tshirt as if we've put it into the shot on the computer, it's very quirky and we believe it captures the bands image and our guest 'Robest Smith' very well.

With this image I was inspired by the grungey wall and wanted the cigarettes within the shots with the males. I lightened it to make the colours more vibrant and cropped the left hand side so the wall can only be seen. This image is nice but I feel that the one above is better to be used with the dolls head and with the colour coordinated costumes of blue and black we all fit very well together within every image.

 The photo is nicely captured photo with the cigarette and wine bottle key, with both our black leather jackets hoods up, inspired by Crystal Castles themselves we portray the duo perfectly. I wanted to again contrast the colours to bring out the orangey/reds within the picture to make us two stand out more so.

 This image was taken in one of the locations where we were filming and with the knowledge that on one of the bands album covers is of a girl besides a gravestone so keeping with their image, our shoot a photo of us beside the gravstone would look effective. I darkened the image believing that it would look good against the black background on the website and keeping with the dark colours idea. We took the leather jackets off and put different 'indie' looking jackets on to keep the photos looking abit different.

 The picture didn't need much changing apart from the colour brightening again, the composition is really well done. I saw the abonded building and knew it would be a good place to have a photograph and the graffiti and danger sign adds to the photo.

 The photo taken in the tunnel, again the use of the cigarette helps to capture the essence of working class 'witch-house' music genre. It was quite dark within the tunnel so we sat beside the entrance so there was enough light but as I was able to lighten it on the computer it enhanced the photo to a standard that could feature on the website.

We did take a couple of head shots but we didn't feel that they worked aswell for the image of the band, we wanted to keep with the bands style and the location shots work alot better with this.

I enjoy photography and thus this task allowed me to use my knowledge of shots and locations to capture images for the bands promotional packs.

Updates to the website

I uploaded a short video of random clips so that I could capture the image of it as if the finished music video is complete and on the website. I then created a news feed that reflected news about the band that I had found within my research of the band like the NME award they had won etc and integrated this with news on the creating of the new music video with Robert Smith. I then looked up the names of small and big venues within the UK that the band could tour and added them. The idea to then integrate the icons of social networks is key with new websites so I decided that they should be at the bottom of the page. The pictures from the shoot are needed to be done in order to do the store box for the CD cover.

2nd shoot preparation notes

Preparation- We will be capturing images for the album cover and website of 'Crystal Castles' and 'Robert Smith' together. We will be taking a fair few so we have a nice selection to pick from, including the use of props; cigarettes, alcohol, DJ decks and fake blood. 

We will also be doing a second shoot for the music video, the section of the male walking backwards and singing in the different locations eg graveyard, tunnel and house. 

website progress

CD COVER IDEA

We had a new idea whilst discussing the CD/Digipak front and back cover. The idea of a wraparound cover was raised, using the same location as this Digipak idea:

However, we would use this as the back of the digipak, and using the brick wall extending around to the front with 'Crystal Castles' standing against it.

Crystal Castles influential photo ideas

For our photo on the website and the CD cover we want to create a similar feel to the photos above of the band. We'll both be wearing black leather jackets and i will have the black bob wig and big black eyeliner. We decided that we like the blood used above as it's quite a conventional idea that suits they're image, as it's weird but appears cool, using this idea we will put fake blood around our mouths including 'Robert Smith.'

For the inside of the cover we really like this image of Crystal Castles, the smoking and drinking theme suits the target audience and it's in the music video too, so it's linking the video with the CD cover. We'll take a few natural shots with a white background and see which one works best and we'll use a black background for the CD side of the case.

Student Website Analysis

I believe that this website is pretty good, the layout is simple and concise without being lacking. The artist's logo, album/single cover, music video as well as other images are all visible and nicely integrated as well as text.
There are a variety of font types (for example the logo and the tour date text) and links to other media, such as Facebook, MySpace and RSS feeds.
The photographs are an appropriate size and shape, nothing is overlapping where it shouldn't be and everything has it's place.
LEVEL 4

I like this website too because of the composition, and the way it appears that everything has been done from the ground up. The sketchy style is interesting, and the way it has been done shows technical skill.
There are plenty of hyperlinks to other pages and to other media i.e RSS feeds.
The blog posts down the centre work well, as does the music player at the top, though the positioning seems off, I do do wonder if it came off centre by accident at some point?
The fanbase login is a good idea, showing (if it worked) that the website would be technically complex.
As much as I like this website, there isn't any images of the band visible, so it misses out on some crucial marks.
LEVEL 2/3

Previous Student Website Analysis

I really like this website and I'd like to do something similar with our background as I like the  collage affect. The colours and clowns within the background add to the detail of the website so that it's pleasing for the eye. The layout of the website is not too over crowded and not too spacious, getting the right balance is essential and I think that they've balanced it quite well. Text sizes, font and colours vary throughout the website page. Appropriate language includes the basic words necessary on any web page, which they've included. The ICT skills shown are those on photoshop where they've created the background themselves and the importing of images upon the page. The integration of text and photos are of an equal level and indicate how the website appears quite professional. Images on the site include a mid shot of the band and a close up shot, both perfectly framed and sell the bands image to the target audience.

The website suits the target audience, it's bright colours and vibrant feel give it the 'pop' appeal. The website again uses the collage affect to capture all the images that the teenage girls target audience would appreciate to see. The selling of the image of the female is apparent with the big picture of her in the middle of the page. The writing is in white, block capitals and it's cracked effect looks different and it does look good but I feel a more feminine style of writing with swirls and not in capital's so it appears less aggressive will work better. The light pink middle background fits the general stereotypical female colour scheme and it brightens the page. Various writing texts are used which looks visually interesting. The ICT skills are of a high standard as it must've taken a lot of time to build up every layer and positioned them to look balanced. 

first day of filming video review

The video shows myself and Mitch talking to the camera about how we feel the first shoot went, we thought it'd be appropriate to film this in the woods where we finished shooting.

Alice from Crystal Castles Icon Costume Ideas

I will be performing in the video  when 'Alice' starts singing towards the end of the song and in random shots throughout and her iconic style needs to be captured on screen. So I will be sticking with her 'known' leather jacket throughout and having 'the grunge' style is very important. I therefore decided that netted tights and a casual-non revealing tshirt in black or a dark colour is essential. The logo tshirt below is beginning to be apart of the 'indie-raver' scene so I will wear a similar tshirt, with smoking and drinking being a key part of the photos for the digi packs.

Ethan Kath Costume Concept

I thought I'd look at as many images of Ethan online as I could to get a good idea of the type of clothing he wears within the band. What stuck out almost immediately was his choice of leather jackets, hoodies and jeans.

I wanted to emulate this kind of style in our video, so I chose a plain white t shirt, with a hoodie and black leather jacket (which I modified in my spare time to be slimmer fitting, like Ethan's) and blue wash slim/skinny jeans. I chose to wear some battered, dirty converse all stars I owned as he seemed to favour retro trainers and pumps and the grungy appearance of my all stars, in my opinion, fits the sub-genre they're placed firmly within, if not at the top of.

UPDATE:

Here I am with the hoody, jacket and a tee 'playing' my keyboard, and by that I mean pretending to.

And here's a lovely shot of mine and Sancha's feet. (Notice the shoes!)

Crystal Castles Wordle Review

It's an album review written by Emily Mackay off of the NME website, the picture as a whole sums up crystal castles in general. With bigger words like 'Synths,' 'sounds' 'debut' 'souls' 'Alice,' words that sum up the new album quite well.

CD COVER IDEAS

Using still taken on our first day of filming, i've been toying around with ideas for the CD cover, as we have yet to take the photographs we have planned for the digipak.

Here are some ideas:

In this design I thought it would be interesting to desaturate one half of the cover containing to male lead ('Robert Smith') to show the different colour filters we will be using within the video.

Filming Has Begun!

At the weekend we began filming the music video focusing on filming the flashback scenes within the video, here's a short behind-the-scenes trailer for the video using some of the footage we have so far, showing some of our locations, the actors, and make-up.

Font examples

This is  the normal Crystal Castles font which also works as their logo. It appears pretty basic but is quite effective. The shadows that slightly outline the title give it a precise and stand out effect. The idea of it being doubled just below could be because their band name has been the title for both of their albums so it's just functional to have it replicated. 




The font text below would work just as well if not better I think as their font style because it looks very urban, a bit run down but still not too over the top with the lettering. The fact that it's block writing in black, would suit their dark style. 

This font text similar to the original Crystal Castles text as it's all in block capitals. 

The font below is very different to their big, block capital font but I feel it could work just as well with it's thin lettering and messy randomly big in parts. It's quirky which is a word that would strongly describe Crystal Castles image. 

How I Feel The First Shoot Went

Forgetting the sparklers on my behalf was a bad start, but in the end we didn;t stay till it got dark anyway. So we will be filming that on a feild near the tunnel, which will look just as nice anyway. However we got a shot of the couple running without sparklers into the distance and I feel this was the best shot of the day. Sometimes spontanious ideas work out better than what are planned.
However waiting for the bus I thought of a location that was near by, accessible to the public location that looks urban and different where we could get a few nice shots for the flashbacks. It looked good on camera as it is a very grey looking background which contrasts nicely with the actors and their bright costumes. We got a lovely shot of them drinking from a bottle of beer together over a 'balcony' looking frame.
When we got to Wollaton Park the combination of the white balance and the light from the sun worked perfectly together so that the colours on screen shone out and made the happy flashbacks amazing visually. The mise-en-scene working well as by the time the sun had gone in a little bit we were filming the dark bit too our film with the argument and the woods made the scene look eerie and creepy. The woods a typical monster inspired home, so when the makeup was on the girl and she was in the woods it fitted nicely together. The actors worked well together and with direction from myself and Mitch they worked together with us to get the shots we wanted.
Afterwards I shot the clothed bath scene, which took several attempts but looking back the shot is exactly as imagined when storyboarding.
Overall we got 15 minutes of footage in one day which will need to be cut down drastically but we wanted to shoot lots so that we had a various amount of choices of flashbacks so that we are assured to have gained the most visually interesting shots that we could.

photos on shoot of male actor

I decided that whilst in the intresting feild and old brick backgrounds, that I should get some shots of the male actor for the CD cover and website. The lighting was really lovely which help the photos look as good as they do. The first one is slightly edited on the computer on a website called 'picnik' because I could tell it would look better if it was slightly cross processed. The other two I tried to frame it so that it was visually interesting and different. The use of the brick wall, rubble and beer bottle capture the typical male urban theme.

Pictures of actors together

These are some photo's I took whilst on the shoot of the actors together, so that we could print them off and use them on the first scene within the music video. As pictures of them together, we planned to have on the back of the door and the male looking at them and singing. Although their not a couple in real life as it is my boyfriend and best friend, I picked them because I trust them to be reliable for shoots and are both visually pleasing. With some motivation on my behalf and directing I told them how to pose for each shot, to create images that are believeable and look visually nice. The locations we picked were good settings for a young urban relationship that we are trying to capture within the video. I tried to get natural looking but generic affectionate romance with my photography and I hope this is proven within the photos above.

With every different shot I got the actors to put slightly different clothes on so that the photos looked different. When choosing the costumes, I wanted the happy flashbacks to have the actors in brighter clothing, so he wore the red jumper  and she wore a light denim jacket and lepoard print top, for the shots together on the wall. However when the bad flashback of the argument and chase he wore a navy shirt and cardigan and she wore a black leather jacket. Both outfits for male and female will suit the target audience's style and will hopefully be reflected and appreciated when the audience watches the finished video.