Monday 18 March 2013

Ancillary Update - Poster mockup


This is only an initial mockup, but it gives an idea of my mind stream (is that a thing? It reminds me of a time stream. Only I can alter it without causing any paradoxes...).

The idea is to have a very similar approach to the digipak's front cover; this will help promote my 'brand' and will make my face recognisable. The little PIP-style digipak overlap is to enforce the idea that beside all the flashiness, there is a product to be sold, and that it is a good idea to go out and buy said product.

Obviously I'm going to pretty this up a lot yet, but I thought I should show a rough idea first. The photograph is the same one I'm using on the digipak; I'm so grateful that the media department's DSLR cameras take high resolution stills.

-HM.

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Ancillary Production - WIP Digipak Covers

So... over the last few weeks I've been working on the front and back covers of the digipak for my artist, and so far they're looking like this:



Yes, nine songs. But don't worry, Cerberus' Cry is one of those twenty minute epics which consists of a really loud overemphasised progression and the singer making "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh" screaming noises which will be referred to as one of the greatest songs ever for some reason. But I digress.

Whilst I'm going to ask for opinions from others about the covers before making final versions of these, I have my own analysis below -

Firstly, I'm quite satisfied with the "Hypnagogic Corruption" title itself for reasons I discussed here, though I'm thinking it'd look better if the text is aligned to be in line with the Dark Flame logo on the right. In all honesty I had intended for this to be the case from the get-go, but I kinda overlooked it before saving this version.

I quite like the logo itself - the glossy effect is one I've always loved using in Photoshop because I like the outcome - it's achieved by creating a circular selection, filling it in white, reducing the opacity and then cutting out an inverted selection of the text.

I'm not sold on the lighting on the back cover; it looks pretty awkward but nothing that the burn/dodge tools in PS can't fix. The back cover is also missing all the important copyright details (no copyright law in the universe is going to stop me!) and other small print details.

-HM. 

Thursday 7 March 2013

Production Update 8 - Music video first draft WIP



Analysis to follow later.

WIP Draft... like a flower

UGH.

Yes, I will have an update with a WIP draft of my video up either tonight or tomorrow. I would like to post it now, but FCP is taking its sweet time.

(Post being made to kill time whilst the thing exports. Note my perfectly conventional file name for the export. Because pointing out the obvious is like my job or something. I'm not going to ramble for the remaining two hours so I'll end this now.)

-HM.

Saturday 2 March 2013

Music Video Props

Hey folks,

I thought it'd be a good idea to make a note of the props which I've made use of so far in the I Am... All of Me music video. These are actually surprisingly limited given the fact that it's a four minute video, though when you consider that props are usually more necessary to aid a narrative, and my video is performance heavy (as per my research into existing rock videos) it makes a bit more sense as to why.

Black Knight guitar


I've used this for the performance shots in the video. This is purely to conform to one of the rock video conventions I found from the videos I've researched, in that emphasis is placed on the performer playing guitar.



Why have I used this particular guitar then? It's because it's quite similar in design, and more importantly sound output, to the guitars Jun Senoue (the guitarist in Crush 40) is known for playing.


As one of Goodwin's conventions is that there should be a link between what we see and what we hear, I thought it'd be appropriate to use a guitar which if played by a competent musician could produce a similar kind of tone to that heard on the track.

Mobile phone


This is used by Stephen in one of the narrative "chapters". I thought having the victim character talk on the phone would be effective as it shows him as being preoccupied (talking to his friend), therefore being no direct threat to the main character. This emphasises the fact that the conflict between the two is purely one-sided, which further brings up the main point of the narrative: that the main isn't exactly mentally stable.

-HM.