Digipack Image Ideas

Digipak ideas:

Our initial idea for the digipak image was to incorporate the rose which we used in the music promo for ‘Nighttime.’ We believe that the rose is a symbol for love and romance which are the two of the key themes in the song; therefore, using the recognizable rose as a method of advertising our album has a clear link to the visuals of the video. After researching bands with a similar feel and seeing their simplistic digipaks, we decided that it is best to follow this trend and keep the image slick. As you can see below are several images which I captured of Joe on a Canon 700d, the pictures I took accidently had an effect which meant that there was a light over the top of the image. After looking over the shots in class, we decided they look cool and could be used for the digipak as they represent the indie genre in a way. There has been no editing and alterations made to the images I took them on set and adjusted the exposure:

Analysis of Nighttime Lyrics

Analysis of our chosen song 'Nighttime':

'You mean that much to me

And it's hard to show

Gets hectic inside of me

When you go

Can I confess these things

To you

Well I don't know

Embedded in my chest

And it

Hurts to hold'

Analysis:

This opening verse is performed by the female singer, who explores and admits her feelings towards love. She explains how strong her love is and how prominent the withdrawal symptoms are; it could be argued she is embarrassed about this confession so therefore she doesn't let them out.

'I couldn't spill my heart

My eyes gleam looking in from the dark

I walk out in stormy weather

Hold my words, keep us together

Steady walking but bound to trip

Should release but just tighten my grip'

Analysis:

Furthermore, the girl continues to sing the second verse and implies she is having trouble expressing her feelings to the one she loves, 'I couldn't spill my heart' - The implication of darkness reflects their relationship as being dark and isolated, they are no longer a team but individuals.  Once again the mention of 'story weather' represents the negativity felt as the boy is not their to support. This idea that she is having to walk steadily suggests that she is not infact walking but she is expressing her feelings and she is slightly anxious about damaging their relationship by saying the wrong thing.

'Night time

Sympathize

I've been working on

White lies

So I'll tell the truth

I'll give it up to you

And when the day come

It will have all been fun

We'll talk about it soon'

Analysis:

The songs title of 'Night time' is sung in the chorus. The word may symbolise peacefulness as the girl perhaps finds that sleep takes her mind of the troubles within their relationship. The noun 'sympathise' is defined as feeling of pity and sorrow towards another. The girl admits that she has been telling 'white lies', therefore suggesting that she may be hiding something from her partner to protect him. The chorus finishes with her stating that she'll talk about it soon. This implies that whatever she may be keeping from the boy is something which happened a while ago (or continuing to happen) , and as she is afraid to loose him, she decides to prolong telling him.

'And I couldn't spill my heart

My eyes gleam

Looking in from the dark

I walk out in stormy weather

Hope my words keep us together

Steady walking but bound to trip

Should release but just tighten my grip'

Analysis:

The girl repeats the second verse, the use of repetition depicts how the situation is ongoing almost as their relationship is similar to a broken record. 'I couldn't spill my heart' - is implying that she is still having difficulty expressing her true feelings towards the boy. The mention of being in the dark suggests that she feels isolated within the relationship as they don't work as a team, instead their relationship is rather separate and they stand out more as individual. Once again the mention of 'story weather' represents the negativity felt as the boy is not there to support. This idea that she is having to walk steadily hints that perhaps she is slightly anxious about damaging their relationship by saying the wrong thing.

'Night time

Sympathize

I've been working on

White lies

So I'll tell the truth

I'll give it up to you

And when the day come

It will have all been fun

We'll talk about it soon'

Analysis:

The songs title of 'Night time' is sung in the chorus. The word may symbolise peacefulness as the girl perhaps finds that sleep takes her mind of the troubles within their relationship. The noun 'sympathise' is defined as feeling of pity and sorrow towards another. The girl admits that she has been telling 'white lies', therefore suggesting that she may be hiding something from her partner to protect him. The chorus finishes with her stating that she'll talk about it soon. This implies that whatever she may be keeping from the boy is something which happened a while ago (or continuing to happen) , and as she is afraid to loose him, she decides to prolong telling him. 

Pitch Feedback

Here are a few points which we thought were useful to improve our promo:

-To make sure its a conceptual based video rather than solely a narrative
-To definitely include the deterioration of a rose
- As for the ending - not to have them meet in either the studio or the bridge, but a completely different location to emphasise that they're place of isolation is not going to be intruded by the other character

Nighttime Music Video: Presentation

Animatronic Storyboard Draft 1

As part of our pitch to the class, we had to create a storyboard to portray our ideas visually; a more interesting way to do this was to make an animatronic version.

Joe's Audition

Costume Research

We intended for the indie-rock theme to be presented through our choice of costume in our music promo for ‘Nighttime’ by The xx. To brainstorm our ideas we wrote down certain items of clothing we would possibly like to include.

You can see below our final choices for costume and make up:

Joe's Final Outfit

We asked Joe to wear a pair of light washed skinny jeans, possibly ripped, to emphasise the carefree, reckless vibe of a teenager who listens to indie rock music. He wore a long black oversized jumper which had little detail on it; he dressed this with a gold chain over the top. The necklace worked surprisingly well as it gave the attire an edgy vibe and created a sense of style. Luckily, Joe has long thick hair which is a perfect fit for the image of our target audience (someone who isn’t too fussed about their appearance); a careless bed hair which looks cool and effortless.

Tallulah's Final Outfit

As for our female actress, Tallulah, sported a similar vibe with the matching ripped jeans but in a black shade instead. Taking into consideration we were filming outside for Tallulah’s shots, we dressed her in warm clothing shaded in the autumnal colours or green brown and hints of orange. The large fluffy hood of her coat portrays a cosy feel; a substitute for her boyfriend keeping her warm in the winter. Her footwear adds to the indie theme, the chunky boots with acentric laces which match the tone of her coat are very fitting.

Hair and Make-up

As stated before, we decided to make the hair of both the actors effortless as teenagers might not have enough time to do fancy hair styles in their busy lives. Therefore, Joe sports the messy thick look and Tallulah wore her hair in a half-up half-down fashion allowing it to fall and flow freely; allowing her warm tones to compliment her glowing make up.

We decided to have Tallulah’s make up mainly bronze tones, showing her natural beauty but also to make sure the star icon is relatable for the target audience. The typical teenager might have insecurities about their appearance meaning they apply make-up to their face to make them feel better; Tallulah showing off her make up could possibly attract our target audience. Her slightly matte finish foundation matches her skin tone perfectly leaving her face with a natural healthy glow. As for the eyes, her use of orange and dark browns create an autumnal feel and contrasts nicely against her giant green eyes. To make connotations to a key theme in our music promo, we decided to give her a rose lip; reflecting love and romance.

Prop List - First Draft

Here is our first draft of the prop list,

Casting

As our music promo is for an indie rock genre, we decided to cast actors around the age of our target audience; averagely 18 years old. We needed two people to perform in our video, a female and a male. Delia and I arranged to hold auditions for the roles on Tuesday the 13th of September, we chose Tallulah George and Joseph Maine.

Joe Maine

Tallulah George

One of the reasons we decided that Joe was the best candidate to be in our music video is because he also studies Media Studies, therefore he understands the process of creating a music video; he is patient and confident in front of a camera. His love for media and helping out with projects was a key aspect in picking him to help us, he also has a love for the band The xx, therefore knows all of the lyrics already.

Tallulah has frequently helped in projects, as well as doing modelling and acting in her spare time, her confidence and seriousness about helping Cordelia and I made us very keen of her. Both of our actors agreed that they feel very comfortable in front of an audience or camera.

Location Scouting

My partner and I decided to film in two different locations to begin with, Windsor/Eton and inside a studio at school. We decide that to follow the indie-rock genre theme we would shoot some shots of our male character singing against a white backdrop. I created a presentation full of interesting photographs and gifs which relate to some of the lyrics e.g. Nighttime, Stars, Moon, Constellation etc. Our decision to film in the beautiful location of Windsor/Eton was mainly because of the romantic feel of the place, they are full of couples and cute features.

Throughout the beginning we are planning on shooting each actor in different locations, Talulah in Windsor and Joe in the art studio at school. At the end we are going to film them finally meeting in a completely different location; which we are later yet to decide. I requested to hire a projector to project my presentation onto the white backdrop over Joe, as he looks sad and portrays a broken hearted man. The presentation includes aspects of weather, nature, indie patterns and features of nighttime.

Our initial idea was to film in the city of London. We planned shots to film on the busy underground and on streets such as Oxford Street and abandoned dark places in Soho, however after some deep thought and attempted planning we decided that this would be too difficult. With the lack of time to film before our deadline and the use of two different actors, finding a date which they could both attend to seemed to be the most difficult. We acknowledged that we would have to revisit the location multiple times which would be extremely expensive as a train ticket will be approximately £20 each time. We discovered that the weather would be too unpredictable and as we don't have the correct lighting equipment that we would need we decided to stick to filming locally.


To make things more visually pleasing and interesting, I constructed a youtube video of our location visit in Windsor and Eton:

Enjoy x

The xx Approval

In order to use the song 'Night Time' by The xx, we had to contact the label to seek permission to have the rights for the music. My partner, Delia constructed a formal email to the band manager of the indie rock band 'The XX', Emma Lomas. On their website we found an email address which allowed us to seek permission to use it. Below are the screenshots of the conversation: