Website Design

This is the design for our website Homepage, which I put together based on our research here and into other band websites. The Design puts the pictures of the band at the forefront, which is typical of the websites of bands like The Auteur, whilst also continuing the comic book aesthetic which we have adopted as a brand for the band. Also prominent are the bands Web 2.0 Social Media presences (MySpace, Twitter, Facebook & YouTube) to reflect the convention for bands of this type to be extremely involved with their audience.

It is rendered slightly larger than it would be on a web page, as the size is scalable.

Final DVD Cover

This is the final design for the front and rear packaging of the Music Video DVD (Digipack). It was initially designed and lain out by Amy Neumann, who also chose the pictures etc. The layout was then finalised by me (Paul) after I added the text, logos etc.

DVD Packaging Rough Designs

These are some rough designs Amy drew whilst she and I were planning the design for the digipack. The final cover design will be a combination of the two covers shown here, using the approximate back cover of one and a front design based on the other. A rough layout for a disc face was also planned.

Hey! Watch this... Music Video Final Cut

This is the final cut of our music video, with final sound mix & completed effects. It's available on Blogger, blip.tv and YouTube to ensure it can be seen regardless of technical issues.

Analysis of The Auteur's Web Presence

The Auteur, typically for a modern band signed to an indie label, promotes itself primarily through Web 2.0 sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. This allows the band to interact more directly with their fanbase, which is critical for smaller bands.



The band's YouTube Channel consists primarily of live videos of the band performing, which is important in attracting the target audience as the generic conventions of rock place a strong emphasis on performance aspects. By posting these kinds of videos, the band plays up their image as a genuine rock package - with a modern edge, because they're web-savvy.

The band's MySpace puts the music and the records at the fore. The first thing seen upon visiting is the band logo represented in large proportions, connoting an image of scale and importance that an indie band like The Auteur might not otherwise be able to connote so immediately.



Surrounding the page are tiled photographs of the band hanging out and mucking around. This, again, appeals very much to the target audience of (Predominately) young adults and teens. Scattered in amongst these pictures are photographs of the band's instruments, teasing that where the band goes, rock follows.

The MySpace page allows fans and potential fans to sample the band's latest music and provides links to buy both it and band merchandise. Additionally, the page promotes the band member's Twitter pages (Promoting fan interaction with the band themselves, creating a friendly, approachable image) and encourages fans to get involved with grass roots efforts to promote the band (Often referred to as "Street Teaming" in Pop Music industry parlance).

The design of the MySpace Page is understated other than the large logo and the scattered photographs behind the main content. It uses a plain but attractive blue/black on white design. This use of simple colour pallets is generically conventional for rock band promotions, as labels tend to use a specific set of 3-4 colours to represent a band's image.

The band's Facebook page is significantly smaller in terms of followers ("Fans" in Facebook parlance, "Friends" in MySpace's). However, this is not entirely a disadvantage, as Facebook Fans are more likely to recommend things they see on the band's page to their friends, as Facebook has built-in sharing features.



The Facebook does allow the sampling of tracks, but is used mostly to communicate with the band's core following, promoting events the band are playing live & so on, as well as supplying the fans with a healthy supply of pictures to get excited about.

In designing our website, we will take some cues from the band's existing web presence. For example, the site will promote fan interaction and will put the band's content and performances at centre stage. This strategy is the best for connecting with the market of teens and young adults, who tend to be more web-savvy and prefer to learn about music through the internet (And usually purchase music this way as well - af act which aids bands like The Auteur as digital downloaders are more likely to make impulse music buys).

Photography

We took photographs of our band members out and about.

These photos will be used on their website and also the CD /DVD cover.

Manga

We've decided to have a brief look at Manga because it is a comic book equivalent in Japan.

Here is a video of Amy drawing an anime/manga character.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWwlxJXSMi4
http://www.youtube.com/user/conebe#p/u/4/93CI-Vw5f4Y

Comic Book / Digipack Research

This is our mood board / collection of comic book images and pages. We did this as research for our digipack and will help inform the way our final design will look.

In our video we've used fonts, speech bubbles, boxes, etc... that we found were common in the comic book style.

Plans for Stylistic Effects

In order to better differentiate between the narrative and performance scenes in our video, we have decided to apply spcific and unique titling & effects to each. We took our inspiration for these from both research into videos aimed at our target demographic (Males, predominately teens & young men).

The first effect we are applying is to the performance sequence. This was filmed using "guerilla camerwork", which refers to a style of shooting designed to mimic the style of video produced by untrained videographers - eg. home movies and other no-professional videos. To accentuate the effect of this shooting style, we have chroma keyed in a custom-made video camera effect.

This effect features the kinds of graphics usually seen on a camcorder viewfinder or screen, such as a battery meter, date & frame indicator. This accentuates the impression that the band are an idnependent group of freinds who are just "jamming" in their attic for fun - which matches up with their character profile.

As for the narrative, we have decided to include titling & other text effects throughout in order to help the audience better follow the narrative. These captions & so on will be styled after a comic book, as these are a popular medium with our target demographic, and we feel the slightly comedic style created by doing this will strike a chord with our audience - to test this, we will be conducting a poll.

Both of these effects have been used in videos aimed at the same demographic as ours. This Eminem video, for example, whilst for a different genre of music, is also aimed at teenage boys and young adult males. Additionally, the Rap and Pop/Rock genres have, to some extent, shared origins in separate (Though related) youth rebellion movements.

Video Second Cut

This is the second cut of the video, which I'm making available so we can gain some audience feedback ahead of making the finishing touches. Transitions are near-final, as is the editing & timing. We have cut the opening scene for time. Captions and titling are still missing, as we're waiting until the final cut to add these.

Video Rough Cut

This is the rough cut of the video, which I'm making available so we can gain some audience feedback ahead of making the finishing touches. Most transitions are missing, some of the edits are work in progress and some of the audio cuts need some modifications. Additionally, at least 1 instance of onscreen text is missing.

Production schedule changes

Due to unforeseen circumstances which we could not avoid our filming has had to be delayed by a week till the 5th of December. This will affect our editing dates, but we are going to try and finish it as soon as possible.

To this end, we are eliminating the Adobe Premiere Pro rough cut, and will instead go straight to Final Cut to edit the video. Thanks to the non-linear nature of the software, this won't affect our quality as we can simply have a live rough cut in Final Cut and make any additional modifications from there.

Production dates

• Filming: Sunday the 22nd November at 10AM in Yaxley
• Rough cut: week beginning 23rd November (in both lessons, Tuesday and Thursday)
• Final cut: week beginning the 30th November (in both lessons, Wednesday and Thursday, and outside lessons)
• Final cut may spill over into the final week of term

Location photos

Here are some shots of the location we are using for the narrative scene. The candles in the second picture will be used to create a romantic mood during the first scene when the singer and the girl are shown to be a couple. The window is used to show the girl and her new boyfriend and how the singer is watching them from inside his house. The sofas will also be used during the first scenes, again when the singer and the girl are a couple.

Equipment & Resources

We will be shooting the video masters in QuickTime h.264 720p on a Sanyo Xacti 700HD camcorder, which records directly to SD card. This will allow us to easily transfer the files to computers for editing and keep file sizes down, enabling easy portability of the videos on Flash Drives etc. whilst still maintaining a high quality of video.

Our rough cut will be done in Adobe Premier on a Dell PC in order to give us a general idea of how the video looks & how the timings match up between the song and the footage. This rough cut will be used as a basis for the final cut, which will include more advanced transitions, effects & so on as well as more fine tuned cuts etc.

The final cut will be made in Final Cut Express 4 on a 15" Unibody MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. This will give us industry-standard editing quality and truly professional effects as well as export options. The MacBook's hardware will enable speedy render times, which will make the creation & export procedure faster & simpler.

Character Info

Lead Singer

Has been in a relationship with his girlfriend for some time, and thinks things are going pretty well. Spends a lot of time with his bandmates, wasting time. In fact, he even has them over when he is supposed to be spending time alone with his girlfriend. The band members have known each other for years and feel like the band is their family, which means they are extremely fond of each other. They are so close that the Lead Singer does not consider it unusual for them to be around all the time, even when there is no need.

When she breaks up with him over this issue, he is shocked and devastated. His feelings of depression and betrayal are only magnified when he sees her kissing her new boyfriend through the window. He throws himself back into band stuff to try and take his mind off her, but he still winds up angry and frustrated.

The Girl

Despite having stuck with her boyfriend for quite a while, she is incredibly frustrated with the way he constantly has his bandmates around. Their presence is so constant and invasive that she begins to feel like they are more important to him than her - certainly she knows he would never tell them to leave if she asked. Unknown to him, she has just about had enough of the relationship and has met another guy, who she feels appreciates her more than he does.

Finally, she breaks off the relationship with the singer and begins a new one with the other guy. Just as she thought, he has more time for her and is utterly devoted. She is much happier with him, and quickly begins to forget about her ex.

The Other Guy

A new face in town, the other guy takes an instant liking to the girl and begins courting her straight away, regardless of the fact she is in a relationship. She responds immediately and he knows she likes him. He becomes aware, through talking to her, of her frustrations with her present boyfriend and knows it is only a matter of time before she leaves him.

He is not a mean-spirited guy, but he likes the girl so much that all he cares about is being there for her and that she is happy. He does not realise how distraught the break up has made the singer, and never finds out.

New Mood Board

Shooting Script

You can see our shooting script (Based on our original shooting plans) here. The printed copy was updated to reflect changes we had to make due to cast availability, time constraints, etc.

Animatic

This is the Animatic to our video. I have taken Amy's illustrations from the storyboard and, with discussions between all three of us, edited them together with the song to show how we plan on timing the shots.

Script

This is the final (Last revision 2/12/2009) Story Script we are using for our video. It guides us in terms of the narrative and will feed into the shooting script and the second (More detailed) Storyboard and Animatic.

Download here