Jem 'Oceans' Final Music Video

Jem- DIGIPACK

Jem- WEBSITE

Jem's website is now live! Check it out:

https://jemnashmusic.wixsite.com/officialjemnashmusic

Group Evaluation

Personal Evaluation

Personal Evaluation from sophiamusmarmedia

Group Evaluation Process

Working in a group this time round has had some positives and negatives. When it came to the group evaluation, some people in the group had not finished the evaluation questions in time for the deadline; so when we had to film in the short space of time we had it caused some tension. As well as this the other two members of the group did not come in for quite a few of the times we were supposed to be filming, so I had to film by myself which was challenging but productive. Obviously, if everyone was more organised it would of made the process slightly more straightforward, but clearly people made up for it and ended up filming in their own time. We ended up staying after school till late and working in our free periods to make sure everything was finished.

Merchandise/ Store on my website

Here is a screenshot from the store page on my website. As you can see I have been designing posters, short sleeved t-shirts and long sleeved t-shirts. I feel as if all of these are conventional of what is typical of the genre of my artist and I think the items fit in well. I have also designed a few children's t-shirts incase our primary audience may be lowered. 

Editing the Lightning Logo

As part of the digipak we made a record label logo in order to secure the authenticity of the product once again. As the record label that we have associated the artist 'Jem' with throughout the process has been 'Lightning Records', I decided to simply to take a photo of a lightning bolt as the base for the logo. I decided to use the simplest design possible with minimal colour for many reasons; one being that from research, I could see that the logo was often very simple in order for people to recognise, and the other being that because it is being attached to the digipak and will be on a very small scale, the details still need need to be prominent.

Designing merchandise for the store!

Over the past few days I have been using Vistaprint to design merhandise for my store on the website.  I have been designing t-shirts, hoodies and posters etc so the fans will be able to purchase merchandise. I have been uploading the images I have taken and placing them on the items. These images may have come from the photographs from the film camera (which I developed in the dark room and scanned in) or from the digital shoot I did. 

Uploading the photographs to my website

I scanned my film images in and uploaded the onto I photo. I adjusted the noir in the image and on Photoshop dodged and burned to lighten and darken certain aspects of the image. Instead of using the plain contact sheet I decided to tear it up and scan it torn which looked more edgy and interesting; rather than a basic contact sheet. Here is the outcome of the main page:

Today's lesson: Planning our evaluation

In lesson today we were putting together our personal evaluation's to join and make our group one. We decided on four different creative and dynamic ways to film it, including doing an interview, a screen flow, recording it like a weather forecast infant of a screen and lastly to have drawings whilst we were speaking.

Keeping Instagram and Facebook up to date

Throughout the process of doing my ancillary task I am making sure to constantly be updating my social media. The process of taking images for the digipak and website were important so I have photographed from beginning to the end result so you can see the step by step process. Heres an update of the Instagram and Facebook page so far: 

The outcome of my prints and deciding my layout

The Darkroom

Today, I worked in the dark room and printed my contact sheet which I will be using for my ancillary task. It was really enjoyable and the photographs looked really good which I was really happy with. Here are some images of where I was working and what I produced:

Me deciding on what images to use and where to place them

My contact sheet drying 

Processing my film in the darkroom

Here is the image of the sheet I have been working from today in the dark room. I had to process my black and white film and it took around half an hour to get everything done; the process is time consuming but worth it once you get these amazing images. Although we have the modern materials to produce images on digital cameras it is nice do keep it authentic and organic sometimes. 

Shooting Jem for the digipak and website

Today, I shot Jem for the ancillary task. I decided that I am going to shoot him in black and white film so my images will look more within the indie genre; they also have a more unique and organic feel to them. I shot a whole roll (37 shots) of him just doing his own thing; all the shots were unposed and I had him acting natural with no posed images. This reflected and showed his personality and kept the photographs looking unique.

Here are some images from today:

Audience Response Feedback

Here are some examples of the audience feedback we had received from our primary audience about our music video. From everyone's we had received we had really positive reviews which enabled us to feel good about what we had produced; positive in making sure they felt a similar connection between the lyrics and visuals. It was good to hear that the primary audience felt that they could relate to the video and the story behind it, which enabled it to be more attractive to the age range. However, some of the audience feedback claimed the video could of been a bit more edited towards the end in making sure it was a bit faster with the music.

Website experimentation

This is another example template for my website. Again, I'm using the contact sheet as I think it looks   better rather than using one photograph. I will make sure I include annotations as it looks more interesting. So far, I haven't changed the font and I will do so as the one in the preview doesn't match and look good.

Creating my Instagram for my artist

I am creating an Instagram for my artist 'Jem'. This will enable him to gain a wider audience and get his music out there. This is a way for the artist to connect with his fan base and make the experience feel more personal for the fans.

Cover Photos for twitter

This is a photography we took on the canon of Jem whilst we were finishing the music video. It is quite casual and I will use it for his twitter cover photo. Evidently, its quite a striking photograph so when the audience sees it they will be aware of Jem and what he looks like (whether he is recognizable to people or not).

Working on the website: Ideas

Here is a brief for my website. I've got the color scheme of black and white and the the one colour which is similar to my digipack. I have decided that I want to keep my website more of a monochrome/ noir approach and have the digipack having one colour to it; preferably red or a darker shade like burgundy.

Trip to the BBFC

Today, we went to the BBFC to listen to someone speak about regulation. She went over the basics of the company and its intentions and then played for us some clips on films that have had to been cut due to fitting their preference on ratings.

• For example The Hunger Games wanted a age rating of 12A, but when the BBFC got sent the film they decided the films was a 15 due to the over use amounts of blood. So, they removed all signs of blood and goriness and used music to emphasis the violence rather then making it visually unsuitable for a younger audience. By having the film a 15, it would of affected The Hunger Games at box office due to it being a film for the younger generation as pre-adolescents would of had read the books and then would of wanted to watch the film. 

• With the film The kings speech they were slightly more lenient with the age rating because of the context of the scene,. The King had a speech impediment/ Stutter so when he spoke he had an actual physical issue rather just being used out of context. 

• Netflix doesn't have to ask because of com does television regulation. They just want the security of knowing what the age rating is and so that whom ever watching on Netflix is cautious. 
• Overall, the BBFC said how they are now advising and educating their audiences rather then setting age ratings because all films are capable to reach on the internet. They are there to make sure children will not get harmed and that parents should be able to distinguish which films are suitable for their little ones.

Photoshop: Learning how to resize/transform images

Today, I learnt how to resize and transform images on photoshop. You simply click Control and then T to get the image enlarged or downsized and the correct megapixels so it doesn't look blurry.

Testing: Digipack 2

This is my nearly finished preview of a digipack that I have created. I have used slow shutter speed images and kept the rest of it quite simple otherwise it could look too chaotic.  I have the red cd which establishes the signature colour of him and I have to finish off the front cover.

Testing: Digipack 1

This is the first digipack that I have completed and the one I actually want to fulfil. The inspiration came from The Kooks but I have included other photographs and graphics I have found to not make it too similar. This is my favourite so far as it sticks with my original idea of having it black and white but slight use of colour giving it more energy and youthfulness.

Experimenting with the digipack

This is another experimental mock up I have completed, although it isn't detailed and completed it is just brief so I get an idea. Looking at it now I can tell this is possible 2 examples in one, the slow shutter speed photographs on the right don't quite match the ones on the left. I have gained some inspiration from Arctic Monkeys for this one.

The Kooks: Inspiration Digipack

Today, I started another idea I had for my digipack. I have been looking at the band 'The Kooks' and what they created for their CD. This is one of my favourites I have seen, as it has a black and white colour theme but at the same time there are uses of red which make it more dynamic. I am going to try complete one similarly but in my own style, the photograph above is what I have created so far.

Why I'm deciding to go black and white for my digipack/website?

I have decided go for a black and white digipack and colour theme because I feel it's more sophisticated and sleek. I think if I create something that looks colourful and youthful it will relate too much to the music video and I don't want people to associate his music with one song/video. By having a more mature digipack it will vary his appearance and make him look more experimental with the artists music/genre. Also although our primary audience is important, it would be better if you could market a product to a varied audience instead of keeping him vigorous. I hope the website/digipack attracts a diverse and mixed audience due to his mature side that I am trying to explore; this could even be a peek into his future career and how he would like to appear in his  future more experienced career.

Looking at fonts: Part 2

Good TimesbyRaymond Larabie


DODGEbySaji Johnny Kundukulam

StrasuabyRaymond Larabie

Bring tha noizebyPizzadude

These are all fonts from http://www.1001fonts.com
I really like all of these and the ones towards the bottom are slightly more quirky, especially with the letter M at the end. This could look interesting and could make it look more fun, but I will try out closer to the time when my digipack is nearly finished so I have a better idea.

Looking at fonts for the digipack:

These are all different fonts I found on www.dafont.com
I think these are the best examples for what I want to create, this is because the digipack is black and white and his name is going to be in colour so it needs to be bold and stand out. I think any of these could look quite nice especially the first because it is spaced out and would situate nicely on the disk for the CD.

Experimenting with the digipack

Today we started experimenting with our digipack in class. We opened the template up on photoshop and played around with different ideas we had in mind. I am carrying on with the black and white concept I originally wanted to do but maybe having one colour (orange/green) which he is known for which could be his signature colour. I wanted to use it for his name/font on the disk.

I haven't used photoshop much only in photography to edit photographs. I played around with the pain brush tool, originally I thought you had to paint with the brush each bit but I found out you can use the paint bucket which fills in a shape which made it much easier (making the cd disk grey). I went onto Pinterest and found photographs similar to what I would like to create, the layered portrait images and layered blurred photographs of the artists hands. I placed them were I hoped they would work and it looks quite cool. Today went well and I am excited to start shooting and completing my digipack.