G324 - Final Decisions on Magazine Advertisement and Digipak

After looking at the designs we created for our Digipak and Magazine Advertisements we decided upon these two options.

We chose these two ideas as we liked that they had a much stronger link to the video than our other ideas did. There is a continuous style to both products which gives them a connection, this will make them recognisable as an In Blue Skies product, drawing more attention to the band and their promotion.
The sunrise/sunset style also links to an existing In Blue Skies music video for their song 'Three Summers'.

In Blue Skies - 'Three Summers' Music Video

Posted by - Katie Pridige

G324 - Magazine Shotlist

Posted by Abby

G324 - Shotlist for Digipak

Posted by Abby

G324 - Equipment List

• Two HD Video Cameras to record our piece.

• Two Tri-pods in order to film steady shots.

• One Dolly for any tracking shots.

• Lights in Drama Studio to properly light up the stage.

• Big Black sheet to have a plain background that will not look like a drama studio.

• Stage Blocks for the band to perform on.

• Three Guitars for the band to play.

• Three Microphones for the band to sing.

• One Cajon for the band to play.

• 2 Mirrors to hang sheets on in order to create the plain background.

• iMac computer to upload and edit all of our footage on

• Final Cut Express to edit our music video together

• Photoshop to edit and put together our poster and digipack

By Hayley and Abby

G324 - Casting Information

Charlotte Hester

Abbey Newton

Amy Coster

Dan Andrew

Charlie Mower

Will Burnham

Cat Warner 

Sam Pridige

Sam Pridige

From our auditions and considering the look of different people for the music video we decided to go for Cat Warner and Sam Pridige. We decided to use these two people in our music video as they had the look that we wanted for the two characters in our music video. When asking them to act out a scene from our music video they worked well together and had believably chemistry and had the ability to make it look like they were actually in a relationship. Also from previous work we know that Sam Pridige and Cat Warner work well together, have good chemistry and can act well enough to make sure our music video looks good quality. 

Posted by Abby and Katie

G324 - Draft Shotlist

This is the draft shot list for our music video. The shot list helps when on set to film each shot we need and lessen the possibility of forgetting a scene. On the next draft it will be more detailed and with the approximate duration of each shot.

Posted by Hayley

G324 - Audition Information

For our music video we require two actors of a young age, one male and one female. We knew we wanted two people who were of a certain look. We were looking for a taller male with dark hair and then a shorter female with lighter hair.

 We decided to photograph our options and then choose from their looks to read short scene that we wrote for them to decide on who we thought would work best as our characters and also which actors would work well together and have good chemistry. By choosing two people who already knew each other this on screen chemistry would be stronger as they would already be comfortable around each other and able to portray a couple with a strong relationship.





We then chose the best match to our needs, the two actors Sam Pridige and Cat Warner. We then asked them to perform a short scene from our narrative to make sure they looked good on screen and would work well together. If we decided they didn't then we would go back to our line-up and choose another two actors.

Posted by All

G324 - Lighting Notes

For our filming in the drama studio of the band performance we needed artificial lighting. To be able to use the lighting correctly our group visited the drama studio before filming with our teacher to find out how to use the lighting correctly and safely. When we went to the drama studio prior to filming we discovered that we did not need all of the lights available to us as some were positioned in the wrong place and were too bright, so therefore made people look over exposed on camera.








 The images to the left show the type of artificial lighting set up we were aiming for, when using a black background and studio lighting for the band performance shots. This type of set up helped us in creating a professional looking product, as it resembled something which could have been a performance that had been done in a high quality studio.









For the scenes that are indoors, we will need to use more artificial lighting. As we do not have professional standard lighting equipment we will need to improvise and use lamps and other household lights. We need to use artificial lighting whilst indoors as naturalistic lighting will not illuminate the scene well enough. For the rest of our scenes that are outdoors, we are going to use naturalistic lighting because it makes it a more realistic situation for the audience to relate to.

By Abby and Hayley

G324 - Ideas for Magazine Advertisment

After looking at different magazine adverts we decided to stick with a simpler design as it would fit better with our genre of music. We liked the design of The Verve's poster so we decided to take inspiration from this for one of our designs.

The first design followed The Verve's poster quite closely as the image of clouds fits in with the name of the band. However in our design we would have blue sky and clouds as that follows in with other previous postrers and album covers that the band have had and it suits them the most.

One of our other designs follows in with the narrative of the music video yet is still simplistic in its design. Our last design did not have anything to do with the narrative of the music video but was more focused on representing the band.

Posted by Abby and Hayley

G324- Ideas for Digipack

We looked at various digipacks that have already been created and decided as a group we prefered the simplisitc designs instead of the more complex heavily edited versions.

We prefered the style of 'The Verve' with a simple picture that can relate to the name of the band rather than the edited style of the one above. The simplicity would also go well with our genre of accoustic pop and the style of our band.

For our first design we decided that we wanted to go with the cloud theme so it followed in with our idea for one of our magazine advertisements. We also wanted to incorpertate the band members into the cloud design as that design mostly fits in with the name of the band.

Our second design followed in with the narrative of the music video, the same as one of our magazine advertisements. We used the setting from a scene in the music video to base the design on and then used the characters in the narrative. This not only advertises the band but also advertises what to expect in the music video too.

Our third design focuses on the band and their instruments, its quite a simplictic design and matches one of our magazine advertisements.

Posted by Abby and Hayley 

G324 - Lip Syncing Practice

Our chosen song for our practice lip syncing video is 'Nine In The Afternoon' by Panic! At The Disco. We chose this song because it is an upbeat, catchy song similar to our chosen song for our music video. The reason we created a lip syncing video is to allow ourselves time to practice using Final Cut Express so that when it comes to our final project we are prepared for the editing stage as we know how it works. This also allowed us to gain skills in syncing the visuals and audio in order to create a professional looking music video.

Posted by Abby, Katie and Hayley

G324 - Rough Plan For Music Video

This is a rough plan of our music video to help guide us when we are filming. We can refer back to this during filming, to make sure that we aren't forgetting anything and in case we lose track of where we are, at any point.

1. Extreme long shot of band
2. Close-up of guitar
3. Close up of Cajon
4. Close-up of guitar
5. Extreme long shot of band
6. 3 mid-shot of Chris, Jon, Jade
7. 2 mid-shot of Sam F and Ash
8.  Close-up of fire
9. Upwards tilt from fire Sam
10. Close-up of Cat
11. long shot of Sam and Cat
12. 2 mid-shot of Sam and Cat
13. Long shot of Sam and Cat, fire in the foreground
14. Extreme close-up of calendar
15. Close-up of the sea and sand
16. Extreme long shot of Sam and Cat walking along the beach
17. Pan from close-up of Sam and Cat to long shot of the sea
18. Pan around mid-shot of Sam and Cat
19. Long shot of sunrise
20. Close-up of Jade singing
21. Long shot of Sam F playing the Cajon
22. Close-up of Chris singing 
23. Extreme long shot of dogs running through a field
24. Extreme long shot of Cat and Sam walking through the field
25. Close-up of dogs
26. Long shot of picnic
27. Long shot of camp fire
28. Fading transition from close-up of fire to the shot of the sun
29. Extreme close-up of calendar
30. Long shot of Ash
31. Close-up of Jade
32. Long shot of Sam F playing the Cajon
33. Mid-shot of Jon playing the guitar
34. Extreme long shot of band
35. Long shot from left hand side of band
36. Long shot from right hand side of band
37. Extreme long shot of band
38. Close-up of guitar
39. Long shot of Sam and Cat at restaurant 
40. Medium close-up of Cat at dinner table
41. Over the shoulder shot of Sam at dinner table
42.  2 mid-shot of Sam and Cat at restaurant table
43. Close-up of fire
44. Close-up of christmas tree and lights
45. Long shot of Cat and Sam opening presents
46. Close-up of presents
47. Mid-shot/Over the shoulder shot of Cat opening her present
48. High angle mid-shot of Sam and Cat in the concert crowd
49. Over the shoulder shot of the band
50. Extreme long shot of band
51. Close-up of Jade
52. Close-up of guitar

By Mia Norton and Katie Pridige