album cover analysis 1#: Built to Spill, Keep it Like a Secret.

The Indie rock band; Built to Spill have produced a very eye-catching collage styled album cover.

• Feels hand made and full of effort
• Low budget
• The contrasting colours are faint, adding to the style once again
• Manipulation of the photograph has obviously been made however the presentation of it is acceptable and persuasive
• The font is basic, however has character trough the "O" in "To", the spiral adds to the retro style of it

Conclusion to Music Video

Our Music Video has now been finished and we have successfully achieved an 'out of the ordinary' piece of Media that has taught me a lot at a personal level. Through my blog, the researched videos had inspired me and my group into using many techniques. However, when applying it into practice, I came to the realization that: LOW BUDGET music videos are not easy ones to construct and require: time, dedication, perfection ... However, I do believe that we as a group can be credited on the experimental approach taken during certain sections of the video. For example, using the new software, Final cut, we managed to blend in two shots and manipulate them into working together in an intriguing way. This I believe, added great character to our work and broke away from the use of monotonous editing techniques.

Attempt 2 Filming Footage Experiment

Firstly we uploaded our footage into iMovie and decided to do a testing editing scene to see how well the filming in London looked. Though the effects available to us on iMovie were rather useful, after the final cut tutorial we realised that there were many other effects on offer to make our music video much better.

For example, the footage that we had of Picaddily Circus seemed mundane, therefore we replaced one of the advertising screens with a persons face miming the song. We applied the same effect onto another frame this time with one sign being replaced by the footage of Picaddily Circus.

Attempt 2 to Filming in London

I went to film in London.

• I started my journey by taking the northern line to Waterloo and walking towards the Southbank to get frames of the street performers and London Eye
• Then, I visited the skatepark to get shots of urban life
• Crossed the bridge towards Trafalgar Square - done this shot to relate to the lyrics 'Tianamen Square'
• Leicester Square following on to Leicester
• Piccadilly Circus
• Westminster - Big Ben (and view towards London Eye)

There was a lot of room to film advertisements, people and set the scene of our video - London. A lot of locations allowed us to have choice whilst editing.

I adjusted myself when shooting and thought about my target audience. Already, the planning constructed included notions of political aspects and a dominant tone against consuermisim without care, therefore, aiming for footage in the chosen locations in London were ideal as they portrayed exactly this. Picadilly Circus includes major companies and business logos, Trafalgar Square and Westminster portray more political and historical content into the music video, Leicester Square balances this out due to the re-birth it gives to art.

Experimenting of the Footage Filmed: Did Television Make You Buy It?

This frame was taken by me. I think it's brilliant in the way it supports the lyrics.

"Television made you buy it"

McDonalds being a world wide company, greatly capitalist and who in some cases exploits its workers/consumers, was perfect to include in emphasising the message of our song. The bin man wearing such a rich companies logo and being in a low paid/status job advertising for more profit simply; rests my case.

Experimenting of the Footage Filmed

Today myself and Stacie looked over the footage we filmed on the Tuesday. I pointed out that the footage wasn't the exact way we wanted it. There were many problems with proportion and too much of the characters appearance was revealed. In order to fix this problem we've decided to have this section of filming constructed by myself. I believe that the unsuccessful Tuesday benefited us greatly as we managed to experiment.

example of shot is above ^^

Filming in London

• The filming in London wasn't as we had planned and hoped for. There was heavy rain - as usual - causing the lens of the Camera to block.
• There weren't as many people as we hoped for to be standing within Trafalgar Square - Everyone was trying to escape the rain!
• And due to the weather conditions it was really appropriate for us to walk around in t-shirts

BUT,

• We did however manage to get some very effective shots of scenery around central London
• The rain created a symmetrical effect where a lot of the objects focused on ended up being reflected on the ground due to the water

note: we aim to go and film next week Tuesday again, in the hope that the sun will smile at us.