Photo Shoot: planning

We are planning to do a photo shoot with Emmet for the album. Our ideas so far is to take some long shot photos of him wearing a casual clothes such as shirt and jeans while playing the guitar in a vintage setting. Black and white shots would make it even more authentic. Our aim is to get the idea across that his music is acoustic, yet still different and interesting compared to other artists of that genre.

In the meantime we are constructing a story board in order to organise all our ideas and chose which shots would be best to have.
The group also has to consider what the photos we take will be used for: album cover and sleeve, posters and the website so we can plan specific layouts such as where to leave room for text so it is still noticeable but does not take away from the background; it is important that our product is visually appealing. 

We are also exploring various locations for our photo shoot with Emmet. At the weekend I went to this old direlect house to take some photos to show the rest of the group as I think its brick and stone walls would look good with the use of proper lighting and also some small fairy lights in the background. Unfortunately, when i visited it, I realised that it has recently been in a house fire and is blackened with soot making it unsuitable for an effective setting.

Photo shoot

We've been planning locations to shoot pictures for our album cover and website. We considered creating a space to look like a studio and have our Howie Day look like hes recording his album and writing new material or another option is a woodland to tie in with some scenes in our music video as we're trying to create a certain image and theme throughout this project. We'll be keeping in mind our similar artists below for ideas and inspiration. We'll be shooting some time soon and post up what we've done so far.
- Cara

Email from Dischromatics

Album Cover

We have to decide on album cover for our song. First of all, we have to decide on a theme. I researched some singer/songwriters to find out the general themes they use, there are some examples below:

The fact that the guitar and James blunt are both in the centre shot implies that it is his own music- song writer and singer. The photos on the left on the wall make it more interesting as they underline the fact that the music is for everyone and has no age or gender barriers- photos include pictures of young boys and girls to the elderly etc. This emphasizes that his music is suitable for everyone.

The casual clothes and guitar underlines the genre of the music, acoustic.

I think that this style of album cover is too bright and colourful in relation to the theme of our song. 

I like the colour scheme of this album, the calm blue water against the clear sky makes it look peaceful and calm - representing the style of music which is suitable for when trying to relax.

Using photos in a dark setting with some lighting techniques in our artwork would make the cover more professional and give it a slicker look just like the one above, this is one of the ideas that we have either for the front or back of the album.

Dischromatics.co.uk

Researching digipaks I came across this website, (Dischromatics.co.uk), which can professionally print out digipaks for us. I have sent them an email already and I'm hoping to receive a reply soon about delivery, cost and graphics. Having our digipak done professionally would really finish off our final product.

Similar artist - Tyler Hilton

Tyler James Hilton (born November 22, 1983) is a singer/songwriter from Palm Springs, California. Hilton released his first major label debut album The Tracks Of Tyler Hilton on Maverick Records September 28, 2004. His first album was self titled and released independently during 2000.
He also plays a recurring role on One Tree Hill as Chris Keller. He plays the role of Elvis Presley in the movie Walk the Line.

Another similar artist, he has a good look we would like for our Howie Day and the all important recurring theme of the black and white picture alongside the acoustic guitar.

- Cara

More inspiration for album artwork

Ryan Frank Cabrera (born July 18, 1982) is an American musician. Cabrera was born in Dallas, Texas. His overall look and image is similar to Howie Day's. His album artwork is along the same lines as our ideas.
- Cara

Website using iWeb

We're looking into the other parts of our coursework now, so we can plan ahead what needs to be done.

We've all had a go with iWeb on the Macbook Pros and we have all agreed than it can help us achieve an effective yet simple design for our website, and it can help us provide lots of facilities to Howie's fans, such as links to other Social Networking and Media websites. The above picture is a very quick example of what we will be able to do with iWeb. I think the end product  should be functional and should look professional, and iWebs is great for that.

Storyboard

Here is our storyboard...

- Cara :)

Updates to this week

Hey guys
At the start of all this, we had one main problem as to what way we were approaching this project.

We were going head on with the video and not considering the other elements which need to be considered.

Tasks :

1. Complete the website, we have got a general layout as well as a few pages of the site completed but there is still some work to do until we launch it.

2. A small amount of filming : We need a film clip of zooming into a photograph and then the ending scene.

3. We need to design our digipak along with the album art, we are currently researching.

4. We need to take a small photoshoot for further album art and perhaps a small sleeve inside. This would also benefit.

5. We need to look into internet based merchandise as we want to fulfill as many elements of this project as we can.

6. Interview and Behind the scenes videos are to be put up

Stay tuned =D

Eilisha

Inspiration for album artwork

These are examples of album artwork that we are taking inspiration from for our group. We love the idea of a black and white theme throughout our album artwork to create a certain image for our artist. We like the idea of having Howie Day with his signature acoustic guitar and creating a 'studio' to shoot our pictures. I also like the idea of pictures pinned on the wall behind him - much like the album cover for John Mayer's 'Room for Squares'.

- Cara

Friday 18th

As of late, it has been very hard to get group work done as some members are on study leave, doing examinations or have other things to do.

We running close to the due date of our coursework so it is important that we get the rest of our filming for the video completed so we can start editing.

On Friday 18th we have a double class of media studies were we will all be present. Emma is free at this time so hopefully we can go down to Dunmurray and take the shot of her walking along the street; she will be wearing the same clothes and have the same style off hair as a previous shot of her in the house with Steven.

We've started using Google Apps to manage our production, and so far it's been very useful to us.

We've been using the calendar to manage who is available during exam period and who is not, to ensure that we get as much done as possible over the exam period.

We can also use the documents in this to organise ourselves a bit better.             Please click to enlarge

New ideas!

Just had a lightbulb moment. We're now hoping to stage an interview with Emmet Cummings playing Howie Day, talking about his 'latest release' - Collide. Just something extra to add on to our web page along with a link to our video, tour dates, information and possibly merchandise to sell. Also, we want to add 'Making the Video' with behind the scenes footage for fans to enjoy

- Cara

Wednesday 9th

We are planning on doing the photo-shoot in Cara's garage after school on Wednesday after school.
We have organised all the props that we need for the setting.

These include:
> Fairy lights -these will be wrapped round the wooden beams on the ceiling of the garage. This will look good in the black and white theme.

> Speakers -stacked up in the background with various cables to give a studio-like feel in a home atmosphere. This can appeal to the audience as it looks casual in contrast to a bright, pixelated photo album cover. Fortunately, a member of our group is friendly with a DJ who has given use permission to use his equipment.

> Microphone and guitar
> Emmet

> An asian carpet- to add a vintage look to the setting making it more visually attractive. Most importantly it underlines a sense of warmth in the photo, inviting the consumer in.