Digipak Research: Symbolic Album Covers: Bad Suns - Language & Perspective

These album covers consist of symbols and imagery which represent the band's image through iconography. The reason I decided to analyse these type of albums was purely due to the idea of constructing an alternative option to having the artist on the front cover. For example, our music video consists of various props which are significant to the visuals which were composed and hold a lot of meaning. We have ideas surrounding the notion of using a prop from our music video to be displayed on the front cover or the back of the cover - where the track listing appears.

Editing: Titles

Colour corrector tool.

This is the template which we chose.

In terms of adding the titles to our music video, we used a master template within final cut pro, which allowed us to choose from a varied selection. Personally, I really liked the one we chose, as it works well with the way it displays on our music video. Once I had imported the template into a separate layer on the time line, I replaced it and positioned it along the bottom of the screen fading it out at the beginning and the ending of our music video. One problem which we overcome was the colour of the template as it was a bright orange colour, looking out of place against our black and white format. Therefore, I researched various way we could adjust the colour on the template and couldn't find any solution. However, after I looked through a few sections within final cut pro, regarding the appearance of what's shown, I tested the colour corrector on the template to see if there was any change, as a result it worked and I turned the saturation down and amended the tone of shade. As a conclusion, it appeared in black and white, fitting well within the appearance of our music video.

Positioning titles along the bottom.

The titles appearing at the beginning.

Editing: Sound & Matching Visuals

For a clearer visualisation in terms of helping us choose how to position our footage on the time line, we created a tempo graph which allowed us to match certain visuals with the beat and rhythm of the song. For example, when the chorus comes there is a consistent fast paced beat and we decided to create a montage composed with a selection of fast cuts which we placed together during this duration. This is also another one of Andrew Goodwin's theories we followed, conforming the conventional elements within a music video.

Rough tempo graph I created to give a brief insight towards our music video.

Editing: Logo For TV

Original MTV logo.

Existing MTV music channels.

Logo pasted onto timeline.

In the finishing stages of our music video, we needed to apply an MTV logo which would run all the way through our music video, as it would be appearing on a music channel on TV. We decided to choose the original MTV logo, as we couldn't fit the genre of our song within the alternative existing MTV channels.

However, it worked well because the original logo was already composed in a black and white format, which makes it look aesthetically pleasing placed onto our music video. We had to find the MTV logo in a HQ form in order for the image not to pixelate when shown on a large screen. In terms of adding the logo, I pasted the image onto a separate layer above our footage on the timeline and then dragged it along the full duration of our music video. Next, I made sure the size of the logo was adjusted to an accurate measure and placed it in the top left corner, which is expected.

The MTV logo on our music video.

Editing: Layering Footage Together

In today's lesson, I learnt how to do a simple, yet visually striking effect on Final Cut Pro. It involved layering two sets of footage over each other, which composes an outstanding outcome. In order to carry out this effect, you must layer the two clips on top of each other, as shown in the photo above and then you have to highlight them both.

Once you have got to this stage, you must left click on the selected area and go to 'composite mode', where you will be given the option of "Overlay" which will layer the footage over one another. We decided to use this effect throughout our music video, to compose a clear flow and portray continuity within the cuts.



We used the overlay effect in a range of areas throughout our music video, to show a sense of flow. Here are some of the other overlays which we created:

Editing: Letter Boxing

Most music videos include letter boxing, composing a widescreen professional look and it's also seen as a characteristic convention. We had to make sure every frame and cut was under the same size of 2:35:1 throughout the video. Letter boxing also makes sure your shot is in an accurate composition on the screen, making it look visually appealing for the audience.

Applying the letterbox to our footage.

This video explains how to apply the letter box to your footage:

Research & Planning: Target Audience

London Grammar are categorised as an alternative indie pop group as their music is not widely known, given their unique and distinctive sound. Due to this, the target audience is mostly aimed upon teenagers and young adults who enjoy music within the indie pop genre. Our music video needs to match the similar codes and conventions in order to grant the aesthetic appeal from the target audience. This style of indie music would often be played on BBC Radio 1, where the targeted audience for the people who generally tune in revolves around the 15 - 25 age range.

BBC Radio 1