Deciding against own graphic imagery

As you can see, these lips have been through the edition process in photoshop, and I have manipulated them very much to try and get them to look realistic. It was my intention to make these lips look as realistic as possible to become apart of all 3 products to provide a linking graphical element between them. I had intended this image to either be a company logo in corporation with the artist that I am going to make up for my products, or to be a an iconic image/logo for the artist. However, this image hasn't turned out how I wanted it to look and I do not have enough time to edit this image when it would have simply been one small component to the much larger products that are the promotional package. However, I may come back to this if I feel I have enough time for it, but otherwise it will be excluded from the products. 

Bokeh light effect

Solid Bokeh 

(Taken from: http://www.texturex.com/Bokeh-Textures

/city+bokeh+texture+light+effect+free+stock+image.jpg.php on 05/02/12)

Slightly blurred Bokeh

(Taken from: http://syafiqahrahmat.blogspot.co.uk/2012_04_01_archive.html on 05/02/15)

Very Blurred Bokeh

(Taken from: http://wallpaperswiki.com/bokeh-effect-glare-light/ on 05/02/15)

A bokeh light effect is a blurred image of several small lights - it can be used as a man image or used as a secondary images layered over a main image with an altered opacity. This then makes the main image appear as though there is a kind of light projection on it, just very faint and subtle. This effect can be used over another image/moving image for many reasons, for example, to give it a softer look, to look vintage, to express emotions through use of colour in the lights etc...

These lighting effects can be altered and manipulated in many ways, for example, by decreasing the focus on the lens the image will be more blurred and the lights will become more hazed around the edges as well as much larger (depending on how far away you are from the lights will change this factor - the closer you are the bigger the lights will be, the farther away., the smaller they will be). As seen from the images above, you can create a solid, slightly blurred or very blurred effect depending on how much focus you put on the image. Also, the background of the lights can change the look of the lights - as shown in the top two image,s they have a black background so single lights are much more noticeable. however the third image appears to either have many lights over lights so there is no background between the lights, creating a gold effect, or, there is some gold behind the image such as gold paper, a gold/war coloured warm or even a gold coloured Christmas tree. this adds to the cluttered and full look of the very blurred bokeh light effect.

The very blurred bokeh effect however would be a bad choice to use in low opacity over a main image as the background and lights are the same colour, so in order to maintain the visibility of the image underneath, the bokeh light effect on top would have the be of such low opacity that the actual bokeh effect of the lights themselves would be almost transparent. For this reason, it is because to space the lights out a little and have a visible plain background that is of a different colour to the lights in the image such as black.

I want to use this lighting effect in my video as I was influenced by it with one of my stylistic influences - 'Talain Rayne - Twinkle Lightly'. I thought that this effect would be very beneficial to use in my video in relation to the message and style - the lighting can act both as an emotional piece but also add to a dysfunctional unreal element that synchronises  with the dysfunctional sound of my song choice by Mac DeMarco.

I first attempted this effect in my video with the slightly blurred bokeh effect above to see how a still image bokeh would look over a moving image. It turned out to look rather out of place along with a moving image so I decided it would be best to capture my own moving image bokeh light effect by slightly shaking the camera over the lights and putting the lights slightly in and out of focus so it looks as though they are having a glowing effect. This will allow some movement to the image without taking away from the main image.

so far this effect is working well with the main image - I may however, re-take this shot as the light's were not as defocused as i would have liked them to be. Also, I want to use several different coloured lights instead of white lights as this will add to the chaotic and dysfunctional elements that Mac DeMarco's song will suggest, but it will also symbolise a mixture of emotions the character will be feeling behind the exterior of his male representation.

How to Title My Digipak

When I analysed my digipaks I focused on the visuals and why they were constructed this way primarily, and only touched upon the titles of the digipaks. My reason for this was because I was far more focused on how the digipak would look visually over any of the text that would appear on the product. After re-capping the blog post I did on analyzing digipaks, I noticed a few things about the titles:

• All of the digipaks had the name of the band/artist on it, meaning that I will need to create the name of the band/artist in relation to the song in my video (Mac DeMarco's 'My Kinda Woman')
• The 'not so serious' or quirky artists had named their digipaks in a not so serious way e.g. Weird Al's 'Mandatory Fun', whereas the more serious artists such as Of Mice And Men named their album with something emotionally meaningful ('Restoring Forces') which can be tied in with the emotions and meanings of the songs.
• The font and coloring of the titles matched the theme of the digipak as well as the band/artist name on the cover.

From this information of existing products, I need to begin thinking of a name of an artist/band that fits the dysfunctional style of Mac DeMarco's song 'My Kinda Woman' as well as the serious tone for the narrative of the video. This also goes for the title of the digipak - it needs to fit the dysfunctional sound but still be somewhat serious to match the video content that goes with the song on the digipak. 

Digipak Initial Sketch Plan

In order for me to construct a digipak I first need to draft some ideas in order to see how I may want it to look. I will not be comparing this digipak to anything existing digipaks in particular as my video product follows a rather unconventional genre of combining dysfunctional sound with political messages. 

As shown below, the two images are the same with differences - the first image is the initial sketch that  I did on paper and scanned on the mac computer. Once I had scanned the sketch in, I started editing it in Photoshop to produce the second image. The second image has been cleaned up slightly by hilighting the background and crating a boarder. I did this so that I could see the image more clearly and see how it could look in a more professional light and, from this see if the elements of each panel could work well as a real piece. I think that each image on each panel does fit rather well and it all follows the same theme. However, I will be working on a few more sketches for the digipak in order to find what combination of images could look the best.

As shown in the second image, I have edited the lips from a sketch to an almost polished pair of lips with Photoshop. I did this as I was considering using a mixture of mediums for imagery so that the digipak would have several different elements and feelings to it. Also, creating my own imagery from near scratch could become slogan work and iconic images associated with the video and band/artist, therefore meaning it could be included on the print and potentially in the video piece.

The left inside panel is a tube of lipstick which I imagined would look nice with a bokeh light background. I think that the two would go well together as it would mirror the bokeh light imagery I am implementing in my video to give it a slightly more dysfunctional feel to match the style of the song in my video video and the original music video of song. Also, the lipstick mirrors the identity of the character in my video (whom will be the face of the band/artist for the song and video i.e David), therefore it is promoting the message of trans* acceptance beyond the music video.
This goes hand in hand with the inner right panel as it will be a pair of lips with bright red lipstick on. This also ties in with the front cover as for this sketch it will be an image of David applying make-up (this is also expecting to be the cover image of my magazine advertisement product as it will then show continuity between the pieces and actually show what the magazine advert is advertising).
The extra panel on the bottom left with be a compilation of many images of trans* people, showing the demographic that this band/artist is supportive of the trans* community and most likely of its fans as these images could be seen as images of fans as well as other trans* people. However, this image may be difficult to create as I would either have to construct many of he photos of people I know myself, or take images from the internet in which case I would have to ask for permission prior, wait for a reply and hope that they give me permission and this simply isn't reliable enough or practical enough o do in a short space of time to work with. However, this panel seems like a good idea to me so I will not dismiss it as of yet but I will not be replying on this image 100%
The song list on the bottom center panel is  work in progress as I need to decide whether I will take existing song makes from Mac Demarco or create my own. Also, the CD disk is a work in progress - i do like the idea of having an emotional quote in it, but it needs to tie into the video and the magazine advert otherwise it would be rather random, so this element of the digipak will be on hold until I decide what fonts I want to use and what phrases I want to run through the three products.

Initial Print Design

Here is my initial plan for the poster advertising my main video product for the song 'My kinda woman' by Mac DeMarco. Producing this poster was a way for me to get an initial understanding of how I may want my final print product to look in relation to colour scheme and visual orientation. From this, I feel that I need to research further into font styles and find what fonts could fit the themes to my video product. Also, I need to go back to my print research and look through some key visual elements to current music advertisements in order for this product to seem visually pleasing to my target audience. Also, now that I have produced this product for myself to see how I may go about producing such a product,  I can hand out questionnaires asking my target audience what features they typically like to see from a music poster.

Video Editing Plan

I've decided to create a plan of how I want the footage I have gathered to be constructed on a narrative and content basis. It is basically a storyboard plan to aid and guide me in editing current footage rather than a plan for pre-shooting. I wanted to create this so that I can stay true to many of my original ideas for the video and not get lost in the editing process and potentially change the meaning of the video. However, I will not restrict myself completely to this plan as I will have no idea how this plan will look until I have produced it in the editing software. If for whatever reason something in the plan does not fit, then that will be a time when things can be altered.

Plan:

Video Content update

I am currently at a stage in shooting where I have gathered all of the male footage and have begun editing it. Since editing the footage, I have realized that the double narrative of two characters is not required - the reason for this being that there is enough footage with the male character alone, and including another character into the mix of the video would seem pointless and serve only a purpose to fill empty space which isn't there. Also, I feel that having two characters with very similar roles in the video may seem misleading. I came to this conclusion while referring to Stuart Halls reception theory - I feel that the meaning I am trying to encode with two character could be receive differently by an audience. This is because in modern culture, if a man and a woman are in a video together, people come to the conclusion that they are going to come together and be the 'happy ending', which is not what my video is about. This conclusion for the newest narrative of my video is reinforced by Todorov's narrative theory, in which he said the end stage of a narrative has to be a restored equilibrium, and many products these days rely on a romantic ending for this equilibrium to be complete. For example:

Popular music videos in the UK:

Katy Perry - Friday Night

 Taylor Swift - Love Story

Lana Del Rey - Blue Jeans

Indie/less popular music videos in UK:

Talain Rayne - What Do We Have To Lose

 Crystal Castles - Not In Love (unofficial fan video)

Tokio Hotel - Automatic

These Images show that in many cases of feminine and masculine representations, there is often an element of the two coming together romantically to form a happy ending (or in some cases even a tragic ending, but the audience would still anticipate a happy ending nonetheless). This is something that I wanted to avoid in my music video, which is why I excluded the female character.

Of course something such as this was bound to happen as most of the meaning of a video is created during the editing stage of production. Currently, the narrative of the male footage is neutral to many if not all elements of the storyboard. This is important to me as I haven't strayed too far from my original video concept I have simply made developments on the original ideas and scraped elements that don't seem as though they would fit well now that I have begun the editing process.

Print Plan

Feature for print:

A picture of my main character applying makeup (one from the photos I took intended for use in the video as still images) - I want this picture so that the main picture of the poster has meaning to the single that is being advertised
Reason:
Having an image of the main character will enforce Richard Dyer's Star Image theory. Also, filters are extremely popular among my target audience (which is why I included a filter on the pictures of my main character applying makeup for the video, as well as because it gives the image more meaning when tied to the video - as mentioned in a previous post), and the photo i'm planning to use for my poster has a sepia filter on it, which goes hand in hand. Below are some pictures that give proof that filters are popular to my target audience (as my target audience is young adults primarily, and many young people in the modern day are dependent and reliant on technology and social media) - I searched in Google images for photos on 3 different social medias and almost all of which had filters:

                               'Instagram Photography':

                                'Pinterest Photography':

                                'Tumblr Photos':

Feature for print:

The photo of my main character to be Photoshopped to look slightly more feminine

Reason:

This feature is not to glamorous computer modified beauty, but to enforcing the message of the video is to embrace who you are, whether it be the social norm or not. Also, the image may not look so obviously trans* at first glance (which is what we want as that is the entire point of the video, to show off trans* identity) and enhancing it through Photoshop will make it slightly more noticeable and therefore people will be enticed into looking at it and reading it.

Feature for print:

Funky background 

Reason:

In order to suit the dysfunctional element of the music by Mac DeMarco - I'm still not 100% sure on this feature as I am unsure whether a funky background will clash with the filter on the image main image, However, this is what I feel would be the best choice for the print as of now, and if it does not fit later on then it will be changed to something more toned down or more appropriate. However, I do feel that there needs to be some form or dysfunctional in the print.

Magazine Advert Analysis

Planning - Appearance Of Locations

Plain Background:

Due to the fact that the scenes with the plain background need to be mainly focused on the emotions of the characters and less on the background, it is going to be set up quite simply and plain. The background will remain plain (with some texture in creases and such from the curtain so that the background has some lift and lift to it) whilst the foreground of the characters will be quite chaotic - filled with emotions and body language.

Bedroom:

The bedroom scene is where most of the narrative and meaning comes in. The bedroom scene will reflect the environment that the male character is living in, so for starters it needs to look lived in but still crafted to an extent to retain a professional and artistic look which will be visually pleasing to the viewers. Due to the fact that the bedroom scene I am going to be filming in is quite basic with mainly white and blues, I will liven it up with a tartan red throw over the bed (tartan is very popular at the moment such as with flannel shirts, shawl coats, skirts and furniture, and due to the fact that my target audience is younger they will be seeking out current trends and therefore will most likely be into this kind of element to the setting). My reason for livening the room up with a tartan red throw is because it contrasts the plain bedroom which can be reflected onto the character - their outer appearance isn't something that pleases them, its their inner identity that is who they really are and what makes them happy, therefore the red throw is a symbolic code to the characters identity Other symbolic codes which will be included in the bedroom scene will be books with titles that reflect the emotions and current reality of the characters life, and personal items such as perfumes which also mirror the femininity of the character. These items are typical to almost any bedroom, so they are't just random items thrown into the mix if the video to try and connote something about the character, they will serve a real purpose to the character and feel natural to the viewer seeing them.

Before Shooting

Before I begin filming I intent to do the following:

- Take a close look at my storyboard and see what elements I feel are the most important to             include based on narrative and importance to the message of the video.

- Book out my equipment ahead of time.

- Ensure that I have everything on my filming checklist.

- Ensurer that all equipment is charged and in working order.

- Prep my actor with the song lyrics and a rough idea of what he will be doing during the filming     beforehand so that he has time to absorb what he will be doing so that each section of shooting will be a little clearer to him.

- Make sure that locations are free and set up so that no time is wasted on the day of filming.

Character Costume and makeup

There are 2 different scenes of my music video with 3 different costumes needed in total. Here is what is needed and why:

Plain background scene:

Feature

- A t-shirt with a flannel shirt over of any colour.

Why?:

- T-shirts and flannel shirts both share masculine and feminine attributes to them so during this scene the characters gender through clothing will not be stereotyped to his male gender. Also, there does not need to be specific colour to this costume because all colours can be universal (and if pink was involved then that could simply add to the message that comes in later during the video that clothing does not necessarily define a person on first glance). Trousers/bottom clothing does not matter at this point because it will be filmed from the chest and up.

Feature:

- Red lipstick and eye makeup for part of this scene:

Why?:

- This scene will have all of the mouthed parts of the song in it so that the bedroom scene can look more realistic and relatable. So, I want there to be parts where the meaning of the video can be established through the singing parts as well as the narrative parts of the bedroom scene - David will transition from male to female as the video progresses, and this scene will be part of that transition also.

Bedroom scene:

Male costume

Feature:
- Grey t-shirt and baggy jeans.
Why?:
- Grey has semantic codes of being bleak, boring, bad, mundane and negative. This is how we want to represent the character when dressed as male because trans* people can get deeply depressed over their assigned gender at birth when they pursue it through clothing for whatever reason (perhaps social pressure or nonacceptance from those around them), and this can make them even more body dysphoric than they already are.

Female Costume

Feature:
- Red lipstick and a floral dress.
Why?
- Dresses are extremely feminine, which increases the hard hitting effect that this concept will have on an audience - dresses are a world away from men's fashion, meaning no man would desire to wear a dress, enforcing the fact that the character is simply not a man and was never intended to be a man - it was simply her assigned gender at birth. The lipstick is also important as it shows consistency with the plain background scene - they are linked through narrative, conventions and message.

Analysing Digipaks

I wanted to analyse digipaks because at this stage in production I am not 100% sure where my creative process will take me and what conventions are relevant when producing a digipak. Analyzing existing digipaks will give me a clear and cemented understand of what a digipak should look like and what style digipaks sell the best on the market. I realize that I am not aiming for high conventionality as that is not the kind of product I am interested in creating, but I know that it is important to have an understanding of what kind of visuals make a product desired by an audience.

Risk asessment

In regards to the locations I am shooting in, there aren't many hazards that could arise due to the fact that each location is in a controlled environment. However, there are still a small number of hazards that could arise, and though their chances of happening are slim, they are still possible, so I have made this risk assessment chart  in order to be aware of these hazards and the steps I need to take if they do occur.

Risk Assessment
What potential hazards may be encountered?	How will I prevent these hazards?
Plain Background Scene
LED light falling on my actor	Put the light on a stand such as a tripod or putting it as far away from the actor as possible.
Tripod falling on actor whilst sat on floor	Holding the tripod whenever I am filming my actor.
Someone having an injury at the school	Have number ready on hand to call for actors parents (they live close to the school we will be shooting in).
Bedroom Scene
LED light falling on my actor	Put the light on a stand such as a tripod or putting it as far away from the actor as possible.
Tripod falling on actor	Holding the tripod whenever I am filming my actor.