Draft 1 Advert and Digipak

For my first attempt at the digipak cover, I took a range of screen shots from my second filming session in which I felt I had collected some really smooth nice shots and started to break them down into what I thought would make a creative front cover. My first attempt used this image where I cropped it where I thought an interesting layout would work with the biker in the bottom corner and adjusted the colouring to a saturated tone to suit the themes I am attempting to portray. This looked ok, so I started to compose this into what I thought would work as a magazine advert as well.

This is the original screen shot I took. I thought squaring the image off and then adding the wanted black and grey tone to the photograph would suit the theme and feeling I wanted in the video so a link between both should work.

I cropped down the photograph and added the colouring I wanted the clips in the video to have. I though this looked good due to a slight rule of thirds coming into play with my rider Tom in the bottom right hand side of the shot, whilst still having the sky area and left hand side for text like the 'Ride BMX' magazines have. I didn't like the telephone wire across the sky because if you didn't know what it was it creates a strange shape. I know I can edit this out in 'Photoshop' though. 

After I had my first attempt at the digipak cover I though I would start composing this into my magazine advert. I thought around the theme of my video and the tone I wanted to create, then brainstormed the suiting colours to my ideas. This attempt uses a black background with the cover in the centre, I added a white border around the cover which adds slight detail and makes the cover pop.

Magazine Advertisement Piece and Digipak

After filming with my actor and friend Tom and had the footage I wanted to collect together, I am now in a position to where I can create my magazine advertisement piece and digipak for my music video as part of the brief.

To start off with I have selected all of the photos we took and I have placed them into one collection so I could view all of them together. This will help me select the most appropriate photographs for the image/ themes I want to portray.

This collection of images are the dramatic photographs Tom and I have taken which I felt are impacting of the themes of the video and them being aesthetically pleasing to the audience.

I have found a digipak template online to help with the commencing steps of creating this part of the brief. Out of my images I need to choose wisely which ones to use for certain parts of the digipak. This is because the front and back covers are going to be the eye catching parts of the design which is going to sell and advertise the product, whereas when I choose the inside images and CD graphics The images have to follow the theme of the video itself and the rest of the cover.

With the advertisement piece, I am taking inspiration from well known magazine RideBMX who's cover changes monthly to the latest and best photo captured which then advertises companies, brands and the magazine itself. 

I am going to style my advertisement piece around a RideBMX cover as the bold simplistic text reinforced by the imagery really captures the feel of the magazine. Subheadings and text then fits nicely around the photograph which I can change to reviews and ratings of the final music video piece.

Final Storyboard

This is my final storyboard. The introduction is going to be a multi angled fast cut and paced scene where the Tom the main actor is starting off the day, It will almost present the excitement to get out and ride and will set the pace of the rest of the video. The scenes in-between will be tracking shots from low angles which will show Toms control over his day and his freedom on his bike until he meets his friend (me) who will then both explore and a brotherly bond will be shown. This will then end with an intense riding sequence jammed with tricks and arty close up shots and then a final clip presenting them riding off into the sunset which will conclude the video nicely.

Evaluation Questions

In the evaluation I must answer the following questions:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How effective is the combination of your main and ancillary texts?
• What have you learned from your audience feedback?
• How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have chosen to have a look at these evaluation questions now so that I can think and reflect on these whilst completing my final pieces of work. This includes my ancillary tasks: my advertisement piece and my digipak, and also the final completed video. 

Final Idea

I have finally decided to produce a music video in the style of John Hicks (professional video grapher) however in black and white for a raw attack on the themes I would like to portray. Instead of making my project a BMX Edit, I need to fit with the criteria of making the shots in a music video style, so I analysed rap/ hip hop and dance style music videos to pick out the conventions of these in which I am going to mix with the BMX focus so that the product is more music video styled. The dance and hip hop genres often use dark lighting as the lyrics/ beats are expressive and deep, which enhances there purposes. Many of the camera angles are low to create power of the main focus looking up on them, where close ups of feet dancing or expressive hand movements are focused on which will be changed to bike tricks and facial and hand expressions in my video. This is because I will be portraying both riders personalities and their enjoyment riding together, which will then create the theme of brotherhood which I believe can be enhanced and shown well through this sport because of time and dedication  one needs to give to the sport to get good at it, and then the time spent together whilst learning can be shown. This bond portrayed then takes this from a bike edit to and music video as the narrative structure can be produced and tricks landing on beats with creative camera angles and shot types will make it enjoyable to watch.

Shot Style Inspiration

Although my music video involves the merge of a BMX style video in with the conventions of music video, there are many types of shots which are rather creative which help portray themes throughout, like portraying rider personality, enjoyment and hard working which give bike videos depth. I would like to analyse a range of bike videos and pick out a range of these creative shots as I would like to include lots and lots of these to make the video visually interesting for the viewer of the final product and I believe these creative shots being emphasised will make the final product more of a music video than primarily a bike promotion video.

For the new 2015 Alex Kennedy edit which I chose to analyse because of him being my favourite rider, many creative shots are included to link to Alexs natural and spiritual personality and flowy style of riding. Many of Alex Kennedy's lines filmed show the trick from may angles while travelling along. The shot might start from a close up on his back tire then cut to a mid low shot emphasising the trick. This style along with shots of close ups on his face sweating or sun reflective shots mixed in-between reflect him as a person which adds depth and is enjoyable to watch.

The OSS plug prices team edit is very similar to the Alex Kennedy Edit, however instead of trying to display rider personality as such, they show more of the theme of hard work and getting up and trying again till you succeed. I like this because it gives the audience perception and understanding of the sport which I would like include in my edit as I would like to show how my riders enjoy what they do and the effort into what they love.

This OSS Summer products promotion video is very basic in style and doesn't include many hard hitting tricks, but more of a chilled ride as a team which is something which was enjoyable to watch. Basic tricks were emphasised and looked pretty with bring sun and colours shining throughout yet in a saturated tone which looked and set a nice scene. Many of the tricks were slowed down slightly allowing the viewer to focus of the rider and shots of them cruising around from a low angle sliding sand etc looked cool and natural.

Brandon Begin is a rider on the OSS team and his edit incorporates a mixture of styles from both the summer edit and plug prices. I like this and would like to mix this into my music video 

however including elements of shots from Alex Kennedys video would make a around better edit and the creative shots I have learn from all 4 videos and many more will take my edit to a music video.

Locations

The main area where my video will be based is the Chalfont St Peter epilepsy centre where there is an abandoned area in the back right hand corner of the site which we have claimed over the last year as a riding spot. The area is broken down and contains multiple ledge and obstacles we have made and the area is quite enclosed which suits my style of video This is because a focus can be created and the use of building the obstacles and then riding them adds purpose and will create emotion for the rider from the effort put into building for fun which will be portrayed.

The other location will be my friend toms house, due to it having a nice back gateway where tracking shots of setting up for riding can be taken and the route to get from his to the main location is only round the corner including some alleyways and obstacles on the way which will create an interesting focus and will create exciting and pace to the video.