Our digipack

Conventions
- Songlist on back to let the audience know the content of the album
- Artist and title on front to make the digipack immediately recognisable
- Links to album advert and music video in theme and people
- Record label and barcode are required
- Continuous colour theme to provide aesthetic appeal

Unconventional
- Songlist placement, unusual to have them in the top right hand corner instead of middle or left
- Drawings included on the inside. Although most digipacks are more likely to feature further photography, this is actually conventional of the artist - as seen on Mac Demarco's This Old Dog album.

How was it made?
- The drawings were scanned and put into adobe illustrator where they were individually selected and repositioned. Using the eyedropper, a rectangle of the same colour as the masonic hall's door was drawn across the digipack template. The drawings were then grouped together as a single object, repeated to form a pattern design and placed over the blue background
- Each photo was placed into the application before being cropped and moved into place
-Appropriate fonts were chosen for the writing and the eyedropper tool was employed again
- A barcode and record label were taken from the internet, made into vectors and put into place in the corners of the digipack

Mirror flashback

To make the mirror flash back the first thing we did is choose a mask from the effects section, we chose the draw mask option as we wanted to get the exact shape of the mirror. We then dragged it over the clip we wanted to mask. We then zoomed in to achieve greater accuracy and began to draw the mask. After this we ticked the invert mask as it was the wrong way round and feathered the mask using the feather slider making it look more realistic. We then placed the clip we wanted in the mirror bellow the clip of the protagonist looking in the mirror. From this point we used a key frame from the point of him opening the mirror to the point of the next clip beginning. The start of the key frame the opacity is 100% while at the end the opacity is 0% which reveals the clip placed on the layer bellow. What this looks like is the contents of the mirror fading into the flashback. We then did the same for the next clip. 

Music video second draft

Digipack idea & feedback

- We like the idea of having a photo of our local masonic hall, in Ilkley, on the back, possibly with our freemason walking in shot. This could present the song list. On the other sides, we could have close up portraits of each of the three characters present. The main character, myself, representing also the artist would probably be on the front. 

-We put this idea, with our sketches, to the target audience. We found that although they liked the idea of the photo outside the hall, they thought the close up portraits might be a bit too common and regular, unlike the video. They thought we should have the back cover linked to the front for continuity but do something different for the inside, something which links to Mac DeMarco's style.

-Therefore, we have decided to use two photos from our shoot, one for the front and one for the back. On the inside, we will draw and scan Freemason related drawings in the style of Mac's last album cover, 'This Old Dog.' In this way, it will link to both the artist and the theme of the video. For the background on the inside and fonts on the outside, we thought using the colour of the door might look nice for continuity.

Influences: Mac & George Micheal

In the process of researching and planning our video, these were some of our most important influences.

Firstly, Mac's own work provided us with inspiration in many ways. The ideas of using an app to create an analogue style look to some of our footage, the placing of separate footage onto a mirror in the main footage to represent flashbacks, the beginning of the music's alignment with a visible action and finally the tongue in cheek narrative, theme and character. Read about these inspirations in previous blog posts; 'Ode to Viceroy', 'Mac Demarco' and 'Passing out the Pieces'. Finally, the Freemason induction theme comes directly from the song - with 'Chamber of Reflection' referencing the F.M induction process.

Secondly, we found 80's over the top sickly romantic pop videos by the likes of George Micheal's 'careless whisper' to be laughably cringe with their plots of romantic heartbreak, while at the same time being aesthetically very pleasing. 'Careless Whisper' fades between over-acting George Micheal expressing his turmoil and heartbreak (with screwed up expressions and powerful hand gestures) to beautifully shot flashbacks of a past love on glorious days to intimate low lit bedroom shots. This is where we got the idea to combine a narrative of romantic suffering with our Freemason induction theme. Our main character's 'reflection' will be upon his past romance. He must strike to overcome his turmoil and turn his attention instead to the brotherhood which he is about to enter. Finally, our inspiration from this era is another reason for our choice to use old school analogue filter - hoping to draw a parallel.

Shoot log 2

- We had organised this shoot 3 weeks previously, ensuring our actor was available.

- Meeting at 9am at our first location, a bench in our local park, we filmed our first section quickly with no issues, using a tripod topped with a borrowed iPhone holder, and an iPhone SE. We got everything we need, the shot was backed with trees, fitting with the desired positive feel for this section of the flashbacks and we waited for the sun to shine brightly.

- We went from the animatic, checking each shot before shooting it. 

- The second location we had in mind turned out to be too busy with cars going along the road so we had to abandon it for our reserve spot. 

- We drove to our reserve second location, for 10am. This was for the first and last flashbacks, set at a bus stop.
- We changed into our second costume, then our third, different but not entirely distinct from our previous clothes. This made the changing of the date clear while providing a continuity of character.

- At first, we struggled to get the straight on angle we planned due to sunset creating an anaesthetic light balance in the frame. Therefore, we changed the angle to avoid the patch of sunlight in the background and achieved satisfactory footage.

What went well?
- Due to careful planning and timekeeping we made no errors such as forgetting costume or equipment or running out of charge which would have caused a delay. Therefore, we were able to get all the shots for this part of the video in a single day, giving us more time to edit and review the footage.
- We filmed a range of each shot so while editing we have different options to choose from.

What could have gone better?
- We could have taken traffic more into consideration when location scouting so we wouldn't have had to waste time going to the original bus stop plan.

Rough Cut Evaluation

What went well
we managed to get all the shots we planned to by carefully working through the shot list. This meant we did not have to set up for another shoot in this location with these props. We took more than one of each shot to give us choice when editing, allowing for errors such as focus and white balance. Continuation was good, we remembered to keep costume and props the same despite filming with areas. A couple of shadow errors aside, lighting was strong and created clear crisp shots. Our lip syncing was in time and fits with the lyrics, even though in this rough cut it is not at the right point due to missing footage. I believe our shots are interesting and attractive, with a variety of close ups, pans, mid shots and some handheld sections.

Issues
Shadows were a bit of an issue. However, we liked the spooky effect and when we asked potential audience members, they largely agreed. Especially on the white wall. The shadows on the main character's face are not positive in the same way. In several of the takes involving our freemason actor, we found he had glanced at the camera. Luckily there was enough take to use one where he did not but we will bear this in mind when shooting with our next actor.

Whats left to do
There are two sequences we still needed. Firstly, the shot of the freemason and the main character walking down the hallway, and secondly the memory shots, taken on iPhone. We have already filmed the corridor shot and plan to film the iPhone footage on Sunday. Potentilly, we may also need to take another shot of some symbolism, such as a 'G' to put in when the song references the 'better men." Then, we will be able to work towards a final draft.