Ancillary task construction

The conventions of DigiPak's:

A digi pak is a patented style of CD or DVD packaging.

• They normally have a gate fold like a book 
• The outer packaging is made of card/paper and the inner packaging is made of plastic
• They are normally used on special editions and albums 
• More vulnerable and likely to wear than average cases
• They became popular with artists and record labels in the early 2000s

The front:

• The front of DigiPaks tend to have a large eye-catching picture on them 
• The picture illustrated o the front panels tend to have some relation to the songs or the artist
• The song/album title is also found on the front panel

The back: 

• the back usually includes: the track list, album artwork, record label, artist name, bar code, and extra information

The inside:

•  Inside the of Digi Pak's you can find the plastic holder for the actual CD itself. A lot of plastic holders nowadays are see-through with another piece of album artwork behind which goes with the rest of the packaging.

DigiPaks come in so many different styles and designs, like shown below. 

Conventions for an album poster: 

Poster conventions in general include,,, 

• Coming soon or release date
• Icons of social media etc 
• A large title of the album
• A hashtag

Our ideas:

The two posters above are brief drawings of the two ideas we had in mind for our Fix You poster. 

• The first picture - The idea here is to print out lots of plain white t shirts, cut and stick on a piece of card so they they overlap each other, then splatter pain all over the t shirts but cover up certain parts of the t shirts so that they don't get paint on, and once pealed of will say 'Fix You' 'Cold Play'. This idea link with our music video as the main idea on the music video is that the characters wear plan white t shirts with paint on, and the paint represents the depression affecting the charters.
• The second picture - This poster shows a noose tied  to a tree with a plain white t-shit danging from it. We thought of using a plain white t shirt rather than a colourful one as we wanted to show that from the public's point of view you cannot see the depression an individual may be feeling and from the outside they look as though they are functioning normally, despite the fact they're dying inside.

Our final Decision and why:

• After a group discussion we decided to go with poster one. We felt that the second image was maybe a bit too dark and morbid for our music video as we were trying to focus on the happy parts of the music video such as at the end when Charlie and Annabel meet and the depression decreases. Like in the music video we wanted to show that mental health issues can be helped and seem like less of an issue over time rather than resulting in a form of suicide. 

The images above are a rough template of what we want our digipak to look like. The idea for our digipak is to have it mainly plain white with nothing but the a few paint splatters and the album title and the song names on the back. The idea of having it white is so the person who has purchased the album can colour the album in themselves however their heart desires. We thought this was a cool idea as art such as colouring is often used as a form of therapy for mental health issues such as depression. 

Images taken whilst making the poster: 

Above are images I have taken during the construction of our poster. He you can see what use paint brushes to flick the paint onto the tshirts, The final picture was taken just after the poster had dried and we had taken of the black letters that covered up the words 'Fix you' and 'Cold Play'.

I then took a picture of the the cardboard and uploaded the picture to Photoshop where I cropped out all the grey background, used a brightening affect to make the paint stand out and I also added added some text and images to the poster. 

Audience feedback final cut and ancillary task

After a long process we finally had a final cut to show people and gain their feedback. We are very happy and pleased that overall the feedback we received was positive and the majority of people understood the deep meaning behind the music video. Although most of the feedback about the CD cover was positive we did receive several negative feedback points where people thought that the cover was too basic, however when we explained that the reason behind this was so that people could colour it in and make it individual to them (much like mental illness) they felt that this worked well with our idea. A criticism we received about the music video was that during one of the time lapses the bus appears on the screen for too long blocking the view of the female character. Although, once again we justified this by saying that the bus shows that everyday life is still going on around the characters even though they are suffering. 

Audience feedback of rough cut

We asked family members and class members to watch our video and write comments on what they liked and disliked about our rough cut, these were the responses...

We had a range of feedback about the time lapses in the music video, some saying they were too long and others saying they thought they were really effective, after discussion we decided that we would leave the time lapses as they are. Additionally, people said they didn't like or see the point in the fact at the end, we also came to the conclusion it defeats the target audience so as a group we came the the decision to get rid of the fact at the end in our final cut. 

Rough cut

Filming review

Filming location one: Charlie's part (All filmed in one day)

1. What worked well? 

Charlie was a really good actor and took his role seriously, he also came up with his own acting ideas what he thought would work well what was very useful, such as Charlie came up with the idea to get in the bath and make it look like as the shower run the pink paint was coming off of him.  

2. What didn't work so well?

One of the locations was supposed to be Charlie in his bedroom as he wakes up and gets dressed, however as we filmed in my house the only boys bedroom w  could use was my eight year old brothers therefore it looked very unrealistic that was a eighteen year old's bedroom.  

3. Anything that could be re filmed? 

Once watching the footage back I realised there was quite a lot of shots that were filmed where you could see other peoples feet in the background as well shots where you could see the paint tub in the background which makes it look really unrealistic. 

4. Did everything run smoothly? 

Other than what was mentioned above everything ran very smoothly, despite the fact paint got everywhere and my mum wasn't too pleased. 

5. Did you use your storyboards to good effect? 

We didn't really us the storyboard as it wasn't in great detail, however the script we used to good use as it was in good detail and outlined the basic idea, including what shots to use.

Filming location two: My acting part (filmed at Olivia Wilkinson's all in one day) 

1. What worked well? 

It was good because the weather on this day was the same as the weather on the day of filming charlies part so it looked realistic that both scenes were happening at the same time in different locations. 

2. What didn't work as well? 

I was only used as an actor because it was convenient, however I didn't feel very comfortable around the camera and from looking back at the footage I think it was evident. 

3. Anything that needs to be re filmed?  

There is nothing that particularly needs to be re filmed, however there could be more close us shots of my facial expressions to show I am getting angry and frustrated. 

4. Any ideas you got as you went along? 

Most of this idea was made up there and then as it was quite last minute that I was going to be acting. 

5. Did you use your storyboards? 

No we did not use the storyboard created, instead we discussed as we went along and came up with ideas.

Filming the running shots around town and shooting the time lapses;

1. What worked well? 

Yet again the weather was the same so it looked realistic how the actors went from running out the house to running in the town despite it actually being on different days. 

2. What didn't work as well?

It was really cold and I was in a vest top so it was freezing, therefore we had to film quickly and we couldn't re film some of the extra stuff was wanted to because it was just so cold. 

3. Did everything run smoothly? 

Like mentioned above it was cold and as everything was filmed outside it woulds be hard to re film some parts without the weather being the same.

4. Any changes you are making? 

I think we have all the right footage, however we will see when we start making the video. 

5. Any ideas you got as you went along? 

We had the basic ideas of running through town and the time lapses in town however the decided the exact locations to film this when we got to town and had a look aorund. The part the end where the camera spins aorund me and Charlie was an idea Liv came up with on the day. 

6. Did you use your storyboard?

We knew what we wanted to achieve so we didn't need to use our storyboards. 

Images whilst filming (and for ancillary task)

Here are some pictures that were taken during filming...

Explaining these pictures: 

Picture one shows some of the equipment used. This image shows a tripod with iphone in. We used an Iphone for the convenience. This shot shows a camera on the sink so make it look as though the camera is the mirror.

Picture two shows me putting the paint onto charlies fingers which was used many times in shots such as in the picture  above, when charlie whips his face in the mirror the paint goes onto his face and when he washed his hands in the sink and also when he picks up objects the paint transfers from the palm of his hand to the object, such as in the kitchen when he picks up the cup and drinks bottle. 

Picture three shows a different piece of equipment used, this is a different type of tripod that you put on your shoulder which is used for moving shots, we used this tripod for shots that were from the actors point of view, such as the running shots. 

Picture four and five are pictures whilst filming in town.

Interview after filming - Charlie and Annabel meet in town

Interview after filming - Filming Charlie in Annabel's house

Shooting schedule

We have created a WhatsApp group chat so that it is easier to communicate with everyone in the group and to ensure that everyone in the group as well as the actors is on the same page. We have tried to film some of the footage already but it wasn't a success as the lighting wasn't right and made the footage all blurry. As a result of his we are looking at filming in December before the Christmas holidays which start on the 16th of December. The day that is looking most promising is he Wednesday the 14th, however we will only be able to film one of the actors this day as their timetables clash. We will then have to film the other actor after the Christmas holidays, preferably in the first week back as otherwise we will be leaving it too late and close to the deadline. 

Overall it had been very difficult to try and get everybody to communicate efficiently and to try and gain knowledge of when everybody is free. On top of that there is the issue of clashing timetables and schedules which makes it hard for us to be free at the same time. We are trying to sort this issue out now as everybody is making this project a priority.

Prop list

A list of physical props / costume / accessories needed whilst filming : 
- White t - shirts for actors to wear
- Trousers and shoes which are old so it doesn't matter if they get messy 
- Assorted paints and paintbrushes in order to dispense paint
- CV's
- Alarm clock
- tripod especially made for a Iphone as we have decide we would rather film footage on our phones

Storyboards

This is the storyboard I created for our final idea. I decided to create the storyboard using sticky notes as it meant I was able to change the idea if my group didn't agree with something.

Final locations

This is a picture of Wymondham town centre, this is where we will film our time lapses, we are going to pick a busy time and day such as when the market is on as we will get more people in our time lapse which will look more effective and will mean we don't have to film for quite so long. We will effectively create an effective mise-en-scene if we get the right weather (hopefully quite bright) and also lots of people empathise that despite the many people around the characters they both feel so isolated and lonely.

This three pictures are taken in my house which are location where we will be filming charlies part. The house is currently being redecorated but I think the rundown house will will symbolise Charlies life, the unkept look of the house relates so Charlies illness how he hasn't got the energy to do everyday task such as tidy and decorate the house (fatigue and lack of motivation are side effects of depression). 

This scruffy house will be a great contrast to the final location where the girl will live, the house we are using for that footage is very posh. We are hoping that it suggests to the audience that mental health issues can effect anyone despite the fact their life may seem perfect to everyone else on the outside.

These three images are taken from inside my house where we are hoping to film the female part. Both my house and Annie's house are not overly busy homes; there is not too much decor or bright colours which would take away from the message and concept we are trying to portray which is good. 

Final script

CHARLIES PART

Shot of alarm clock 

Charlie: 7:00 presses alarm onto snooze, presses snooze again and again every 10 minutes, every time he presses the snooze button more and more paint appears on the alarm clock

Charlie: Slowly gets out of bed after staring at the floor for a while with his head in his hands and sluggishly makes his way the the bathroom 

Film from mirrors point of view 

Charlie: Wipes eyes and paint comes of his hands onto his face, then washes his hands and paint washes of into the sink 

Charlie: goes down the stairs

Charlie: opens fridge and sees postit note on fridge door 'take pills and try hand another CV in today'

Charlie: shuts fridge door and pics up CV's (these are plain ones without paint on), flicking through them to double check they're all there

Charlie:  Opens front door and cuts to him in town where he checks his CV's in his pockets and they all have paint on. 

Charlie: Gets angry and frustrated, ripping up CV's and chucking them on floor 

Charlie: walks around (film time lapses of him in his shirt with paint on and normal people walking past him

Charlie: footage of charlie running 

Charlie: time lapse of him in town gradually gaining more paint on him

Annabel's Part

Annabel: walk down the stairs 

Annabel: makes cup of tea as she picks up things and does thing there is paint going onto the objects so she gets angry

Annabel: sulks down to the floor

Annabel: puts shoes on and just runs out door

Annabel: carries on running

Annabel: time lapse in town

Annabel and Charlie together

Both walking towards each other than run into the same shot 

Annaebl and charlie: Bump into each other on street

End on time lapse of them two looking at each other with each others paint on

This was the script with Callum and Charlie before we changed  the actor:

I printed the script of that I had written and gave it to each members of my group including the actors so that they could read it before it came to filming so everyone turned up knowing the the exact idea and what was going to happen. 

Location research

Here are photos of some location ideas around Wymondham where we could film. Our idea at the moment  has some places where the character is walking alone, so we looked at some walking routes and scenic places in Wymondham we could potentially use.

Attleborough - 

Here are some other options for places we will film. We are undecided whether to film in Attleborough or Wymondham or a combination of both.

I have considered weather conditions preferably we want to film on bright days so that the paint seems more bright and visible, however even if it is a rainy day I think it would emphasis the dullness of actors lives as they walk down the roads, the rain could symbolise the issues raining down on them all the time. However 50% of the music video will be filmed inside a house and inside so even if the weather it really bad and we are unable to film we can film the outside parts on separate days when the whether is nicer. Also, for the end scene where Callum and Charlie are walking down the road we would like it to be sunny to represent the happiness and fresh start of their lives. 

We have emailed a few pubs in Wymondham to ask for their permission to film in their pubs and to film from behind their bar so hopefully one will get back to us giving us permission, if not we will have to rethink our idea slightly. 

We have chosen to film in Wymondham and Attleborough as both our actors have easy access to these locations such as a bus or walking as Callum, Charlie, Olivia, Molly all live around these areas. 

UPDATE

Due to time restrictions and our schedules we were finding it hard to work a day where me, Liv, Molly, Charlie and Callum were all free. Callum was the issue as he was at college and not sixth form like the rest of us so his hours didn't fit with ours, as a last minute option I have opted to be the other actor for our music video. Instead of two boys we are going to use a boy and a girl like our original idea. Me and Charlie are good friends so will be comfortable filming and acting with each other 

 Although, this change has delayed the process of finalising the planning and research for our video we are now much more confident and happy that the actors we have got will be able to produce a god performance which will make the storyline more effective and have a more professional look.

Character profile of new female lead:

Name: Annabel Harris
Age: 17
Why we chose them: She has studied drama during secondary education and she is a confident person whilst on camera which will add a more professional feel to the end product. Also, she is in our media group and therefore this will make it much easier for us to know when she is free and therefore correspond her timetable with Charlie's.

MUSIC VIDEO UPDATE

We have had to adapt our idea recently as have fallen slightly behind on the time schedule. The last time we filmed it was dark and cold, with the weather conditions affecting the camera, the footage we managed to get looks amateur and so therefore we will need to try again. Instead of basing our idea on a romantic relationship between man and woman, we will focus on a friendship between two men based on the actors we can get hold of at such short notice. Also, instead of going into Norwich to film we will film in local areas such as Wymondham and Attleborough because the time it takes to get to Norwich takes up valuable filming time. We will try filming again early next week hopefully to be finished by Friday and then we have one week to edit before the deadline.

Characters and casting

Originally we looked at using one male character and one female character for our media product as we felt this would help reach out to the target audience as people are often interested in a media product especially if there is the opportunity for a romantic storyline to be created. However, when we looked into the issues of mental health more and we thought about the idea with more depth we decided that we wanted to use two male characters as the lead roles because we were made aware that it is males who are more likely to suffer from depression and keep it from their friends and family. Our media group wanted to raise awareness to this and we felt that by using two male characters who would then open up to each other about how they are feeling it would help approach the target audience in a way that they would also become educated about the situation.

Character Profiles:

Name: Charlie Frazer
Age: 18
Why we chose him: Charlie has a lot of acting experience and isn't shy on camera and this means that it is easier for our final media product to look more professional. He also attends the same sixth from as us, studying drama, and this meant that it was easy to sort out a time for us to film and will be easy to pick him up and get him to the location we wish to film.

Name: Callum O'Brien
Age: 17
Why we chose him: Callum is a student at a performing arts college which proves that he is a good performer and we hope this will increase the professional look of our music video. Once again he also lives fairly local to the members of our media group and this makes it practical for him to be in our music video.

Costumes and their meaning:

The main aspect of our idea for the music video is that we want the characters to be wearing white t-shirts and then there will be brightly coloured paint thrown onto the t-shirts to represent the depression and mental illness. Some days there will be more paint as part of the costume and other days there will be less paint as part of the costume and this symbolises how people with mental illnesses have some days where there feel worse than others. We are also looking at having the bottom half of their clothing dark colours, black, so that the white top and the paint stands out.

How will we source the costumes?

Each media group was giving an allowance to buy whatever they needed in order to make their idea for the media product work. As a result of this we were able to buy 10 adult sized white t-shirts and all of the brightly coloured paint with our allowance.

Interview after our first attempt of footage

Ancillary task plans

We plan on using original images created by ourselves rather than using pictures etc of the internet that would involve copy right. As already discussed we will use our poster paint and the picture to create our own pictures.

Ancillary task 2 research

These are all examples of posters for different albums. What works well with these posters is they are all fairly basic so the main focus is on the artist because viewers are drawn to the large bold letters. All three posters relate to their digi packs, such as the picture of the tree on Biffy Clyro's poster is the same as the picture on the digi pack.  

Our idea: 

Our idea so far is fairly deep and meaning full that would shock the audience to get their attention. We came up with the idea of having a white shirt tied up to a noose on a tree, We were thinking of having a plain shirt without paint on which is contrasting to our digi pack. As the poster is shown from the public's point of view it is showing how we cant see the depression or mental health issues that people are often going through when really they're dying inside.