Photoshop editing process

Although I was pleased with my original photos I had taken for my album cover, to enhance them to a professional level, it required using Photoshop software. My knowledge initially was limited of the software as I had not previously used it before, unlike Adobe Premiere Pro editing software, which I had previous knowledge of due to previous tasks in media.
However, although I used the software to enhance my images, I knew from the onset that I wanted to keep them authentic and natural and therefore change little. Nevertheless, my research taught me that bright vibrant colours were a common feature of the electro genre, and I thus wanted to brighten and contrast the photos.

I began with my front cover, and  began to come to grips with using the software and some of its tools. I experimented with a variety of soft tone filters, to see how I could manipulate my image. However, I felt that they took away the authenticity of the image which I had attempted to construct. I therefore explored other ways that I could change the image colours , and mildly increased the brightness and contrast to make the image less dreary. I found that Curves which operates in the same way as Adobe Premier Pro, was the most useful tool in achieving my desired effect. I took some of the blues out of the photo and changed the colour lines to achieve a slightly warmer and more artistic effect. 

Once I had finished manipulating the colours and contrast, I was pleased with my front cover, and simply had to add text of the album name and the artist.

My reverse panel required slightly more work than my front panel, as I had to crop the photo to compose it in a way which made the umbrellas reflection the focus. I chose to use this image rather than one of the actual close up images I took of the umbrella as the reflection was both bolder and clearer, so that when it was cropped it would just leave the clear image of the umbrellas reflection.

 After I had cropped the image on photoshop, I again just adjusted the colour curves line to replicate a similar colour tone to the front of the CD panel to again promote itself as a coherent and realistic package. By adjusting the curves line, I completely altered the mise-en-scene and its connotations, instead the new brightened image portrays a sense of optimistic dream-like connotations, as opposed to the original dark image.
I then only had to add track names of the album, which I chose to compose in the centre of my CD design, as it is the standard lay out of the reverse of a CD cover. I did however experiment with placing the text in other positions as I was willing to challenge the wider industry expectations with regards to the placement of the text, however, it seemed to detract the attention away from the main focal point of the top left hand corner and so I kept it centered in the middle. The final stage to finishing the reverse of my CD panel was to add a bar code, which I simply imported from the internet, and inverted the colours to make the white turn black, and vice versa, and then simply removed the black background so that only the white scan of the barcode was left. I chose to do this as it simply seemed more stylish than a box barcode placed onto the image.

I again used the same methods as my other panels to simply crop the image to leave a large pond, with the reflection of the sky which added different colour tones and levels of lighting to the image. I again wanting to leave the image fairly natural, and so simply adjusted the curves until I had achieved a look I was again happy with and felt blended with the other panels.

Finished inside panel

 The inside panels required the most amount of editing on photoshop, and as a result it challenged me to learn new techniques. As I knew I would again adjust the colour tones using curves later on during the process, my first main focus was to re-construct the image to improve it. The first thing I wanted to change was to conceal Holly's face. Although their was a multitude of other photos of which Holly's face was concealed, I felt this photo was the most suited, and I knew that this was changeable. I therefore used the lassoo tool and cut the umbrella from another image which we took of Holly, and simply placed it over my inside 3 panel to conceal Hollys face.

 The second thing which I decided I wanted to adjust was to remove the tree in the centre of the image, as it obstructed and fragmented the shot, when I was attempting to achieve the opposite fluent stretched image to represent her lengthy journey. I managed to do this by using a mixture of the 'spot healing brush tool' and the 'clone tool' as my knowledge of how to achieve such results was limited, I relied on internet tutorials to teach me both methods, and instead combined them until I had successfully removed the tree and its stand from the picture. 
Finally, I again adjusted the colour using curves to create a warm vintage feel which represents Holly's character.

How my panels will be divided

 As I was happy with the composition with my photo, the main task for the album poster was the text which would be required  to promote the album and band.

  By this point I had grasped a good understanding of curves and how to achieve my authentic vintage looking effect, and simply adjusted the curves lines to again dramatically alter the entire feel of the image. 




After my 'base layer' had been established, I began to build up the layers, beginning with the album and artists name. After much consideration and experimentation, I decided that to make my text stand out without making the text too large, that I would simply place the text in a white box. I was unsure whether it worked, and so asked my fellow media students and friends what they felt worked best. The response was enormously positive, as using a solid white box is seen as a more contemporary style which is expanding into the music industry.

 Drawing from my own knowledge and my research, I added elements which I knew were typical conventions of album posters.
I therefore created and added 3 music magazine reviews which would promote my album, as the audience often rely on trusted sources such as music magazines to find 'good' new music.

I then added other generic properties which are found on an album poster, such as the bands website, the music labels website, the music labels logo, and when and how the target audience can purchase the song as it is vital information required to promote the band. 
I decided I would use the same font throughout to again make the poster appear consistent, however merely using black text for the album poster with a white box, rather than the white text used throughout the rest of my digi-pak for aesthetic reasons.

Changes I made to my digi-pak concept

Although initially I felt I was quite firm on my decided idea of having a floating umbrella as my front album cover, and its reflection on the reverse panel, once I had viewed the photos I decided that some of my more spontaneous ideas were far more interesting and aesthetically appealing. For this reason, I decided I would instead use this image:

I decided that I would instead use this image as my front cover, and have my initial idea on the reverse panel, to create a contrasting effect which connotes a wider range of ideas than I had anticipated which were far more relevant to my video, as well as the indie-electro genre. It also managed to include the important urban city feel which comes across within the music and thus again reflects the genre. The mise-en-scene of this image was far more captivating, and I decided that once I had cropped the image and edited the colours in photoshop, it would make a far more visually appealing front cover to attract my audience.

Once I had decided to change my front cover, I felt that I had to slightly alter my planned reverse panel, and instead chose to reveal some of the umbrella rather than merely its reflection, as I again felt it would make the shot more visually interesting as well as making all the panels appear a coherent package. This was because I chose the pond location because I wanted Lily pads to accompany the reflection of the umbrella, to again encompass the idea of natural and man made elements combining to make a final product, like the genre of music. However when we went on location to take the images for my CD panels, there were no lily pads just vast water. It was mainly for this reason that I decided to include some of the umbrella to make the shot more visually interesting.

Although my final inside final panel was not a changed idea, it was an Idea which I had not foreseen, as it was not until after brainstorming ideas for my digi-pak that I decided upon a template, which would require an extra panel than I had anticipated. However I was keen and set upon my concepts, and decided that as it was not the main focus of the CD, it could be a simple neutral image which links together both images. I therefore browsed the photos from my shoot and found an image which was largely water, with reflections of the light which I felt I could make more visually appealing my again manipulating the colours in photoshop.

The image which I cropped to become my inside panel

Photos for my album cover and back panel

Possible front design panel

Possible images for my reverse panel
Whilst shooting my planned photos for my digi-pak, I used the opportunity to experiment with alternative options as opposed to the simple close up umbrella shot on the water as the front panel, and the reflection on the back panel. For example, as shown above I took the opportunity to include aspects of the city park within a selection of my photos, as I felt the architecture enriched the image and made it much more visually engaging for my audience. I also experimented with having the umbrella in different locations, such as being thrown in the air, or laying in a puddle, which also revealed its reflection which was similar to my initial idea.

Design CD template

When initially considering CD design templates to base my album covers on, I decided that I would not use a traditional CD Jewel case as it was too conventional, and not outlandish enough to fit in with our bold and unique genre.
I therefore was going to use a cardboard CD sleeve, as it is more unusual and therefore fitting with the indie-genre as well as the fact that it is becoming a more popular design to distribute CD's in and used by many indie-electro bands.

Examples of sleeves used for Indie-electro Band

However, this was before I had drawn up any concepts which I may use as my design, and although I was uncertain as to what exactly my front and reverse panels may be, I had decided that I wanted the inside of my panels to my a long wide shot image of Holly walking down a street, and therefore contemplated a multitude of templates which would be slightly less conventional in design, and suited to my idea. Through my research of CD designs, I narrowed it down to four possible templates.

The first template was similar to my initial idea of a cardboard sleeve, but instead it opened out, and was a four panel CD design. Although I liked the design and layout of this CD case, I decided that my wide shot image would not have the desired effect spread across two panels. In an attempt to develop the idea, I contemplated adding a fold out leaflet, a common feature of a CD, which revealed the long shot of Holly on one side, and perhaps lyrics or band details on the reverse. However, I decided that I wanted the wide long shot of Holly walking down a street to be my main focus image for my inside panels, and  I therefore decided that my design required at least 3 panels on the inside to accommodate this.

The second design I considered was a 6 panel CD case, which folded out to have the CD situated onto the folding panel. Although I again liked this layout, I thought that having a CD obstruct the last panel when in place, would make it essentially appear like a two panel shot, which again was not the effect I was hoping to achieve.

My third CD design consisted of an extra panel, making it an 8 panel template design. However, when experimenting with putting my image across a four panel photo on photoshop, I decided that it looked too 'overdone' and the image lost its aesthetic appeal. This made me confirm my belief that 3 panels were the suitable amount to have for the inside of my CD design, but that I would experiment with different compositions.


The final design which I explored and decided was perfect and entirely appropriate for my CD design was the 6 panel CD design, but with the CD situated in the center panel, so that it did not merely seem to crop the image, but simply mildly disrupted the flow of the image, whilst still making it visible that the entire three panels are one stretched picture. It was from this template which I centered around the rest of my ideas from, as I wanted an alternative theme to the urban street with Holly as a focus, as the whole concept would seem too overplayed if they were to continue across 3 exterior panels as well. I shortly came up with a concept which I felt would work for the front of the CD cover, and the reverse, a floating red umbrella and its reflection continued onto the reverse panel. Nevertheless, after I decided that this was what I would have as my other two panels, I realised my design required another, and after much consideration, decided to keep a simple colour manipulated image of a river to continue the theme on the exterior, and to also provide a contrast when folded, to the interior location of an urban area.

Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the industrial process, technology has played a key role in helping to both create and enhance my finished products.

At the beginning when we were set the task to find a music track and make a music video, I relied heavily upon the internet to find a suitable track. This is because sites such as youtube, bandcamp, and soundclound are designed to promote unsigned, or in our case, not very well known bands. These websites enabled us to find a track much easier, as without them, our search would have been heavily restricted to bands in the local area, many of whom were unlikely to have a high quality recorded track.It was also useful in that it divided the tracks into categories, such as genre, which helped to narrow down the search as I knew that I wanted to make a music video to either a pop, indie, or electronic music track.

 Joe found the track on bandcamp, and we were able to listen through a variety of the band's songs until we found one which we felt we could make a music video to, and were then able to simply download the song via the website so that we had copies instantly available to us. By having a copy of the track in this downloadable format, we were able to put it onto our mobile devices and ipods so that we could frequently listen to the track, or play it out loud to the cast during shooting which became particularly useful when trying to walk to the beat of the song, which thus helped us when we began to edit our piece.

The website was also useful as it gave us multiple ways in which we could contact the band to gain their permission, either through using social networking sites, or it enabled us to email them directly from the website. Either way, the internet played a significant role in helping us construct our product, as the band was based in New York and therefore the internet was the quickest and easiest way to gain their permission, without which we could  not have made the music video. We decided to simply email the band and due to the ease and nature of emails, received a quick reply within the same day granting their permission for us to use their music track to make a music video.

The internet also played a key part in our research to discover more about both the band and the genre. I explored the bands social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook as well as their website http://thisisfirehorse.com/ to initially find what I could about the band and their genre of music, which revealed that Firehorse were a modern, cutting-edge indie-electro band . Through researching the bands via various websites, it represented the lead female singer as a strong, independent, alternative "free-spirit" which is according to an interview on the bands website, what they wanted their music to represent. This gave Joe and myself a strong idea of the kind of representations that we would include within our music video.

As both mine and Joe's knowledge of the genre was limited, we heavily relied upon search engines to find examples of indie-electro bands, and then watched the music videos through Youtube. Through extensively watching music videos within the same genre as ours, it allowed us to understand the conventions of the genre, which our research revealed were drastically different to the typical conventions of the wider music industry. These genre features then became a template for the way we chose to construct our music video, and the way in which I constructed my digi-pak.

After we had brain stormed and came up with a concept for our music video, we decided that we would pitch it to the rest of the class, to receive some initial feedback on what they thought of the concept, and if they thought any aspects would not work which we had not initially considered. To pitch our idea, we verbally presented the concept to the class, and then using Youtube, showed video's to put across the tone and feel of our concept to clarify what we were aiming for. In addition, we also recorded this pitch so that we could have a reference of any criticisms of our idea, and was in addition a record of our initial concept so that we could reflect upon any changes we had made throughout the industrial process. For example, it is clear through our pitch that Joe and myself were intent on only consisting the video on feet shots, however as developments in planning were made, we decided that it may be too repetitive, and it may be more effective to include other enigmatic close up shot types.

Once we had finalised our concept, we created a story board and uploaded it onto our blogs. Blogger is an excellent example of how new technology is changing the media industry, as it is becoming as a result more open and inter-related to its audience. By presenting our coursework as an online portfolio, it meant that I could promptly share ideas with other class mates, and use other media materials to demonstrate my points unlike in other formats such as written, such as by embedding other Youtube video's and explaining how I was going to either develop or challenge the used convention within my own music video.
  However I was still able to include written brainstorms, by simply scanning them in and uploading them onto my blog
It also meant that I could present my work in a variety of forms to make it more interesting,  Furthermore, as it could all be saved in one place to the internet, it meant my work was secure and would not get lost unless I chose to delete it. As it is all accessed via a website, it also meant that I could access it from anywhere, for example, when I did not have access to a computer and wanted to upload posts, I could use my phone to access my blog and create posts using 3G technology.
 It also allowed fast feedback from teachers that I could access at home for example, which allowed me to easily adapt and make any necessary changes quickly.
 In addition, another advantage of having a blog is that it allowed me to engage myself in other people's projects and offer any feedback, and allowed others to do the same for me.

Technology played a vital role
 in aiding our planning of our music video. Initially once we had decided on the types of locations we would need within the local city, to save time as we were on a tight schedule, we explored suitable locations by Google Maps using 'street view' which enables you to explore photographed locations. Once we had narrowed down our search using google maps, we visited the locations to see which locations felt most suitable for both aesthetic and practical purposes and took photographs of to upload onto our blogs to document our progress.
We also relied heavily on social networking sites to communicate with and organise our cast and crew, to for example work out when we were able to shoot.

How technology was used when shooting our music video
Whilst shooting our music video, we relied upon various pieces of technology to create our product, the most important one being the Nikon D100 camera which Joe was able to borrow a high definition camera to create our music video on. We felt that shooting our music video in high quality was important to create the polished and sharp look that we were attempting to achieve which may make our music video appear more professional. By using a more technical camera, it also gave us more opportunities in terms of both shooting and editing. For example, before leaving a location with the cast, we were able to re-watch the footage using the display screen to ensure that we had at least a couple of good shots that we could use when editing.
 In addition, the camera had a variety of lenses which altered the types of shots we got, meaning that we could again be more varied in our shots whilst maintaining a professional look. It also had a manual focus button so that we could change the depth of field, for example, in the shot bellow we adjusted the focus to give us a shallow depth of field, so that the camera and the audience focus on the intimacy of the couple rather than what they're actually doing.
Because of the adjustable focus lens, we were also able to include focus pulls within our music video, for example when Holly ignores the phone call, the audience are merely observing her passive state, until the camera pulls the audiences attention to the ringing phone, to highlight the fact that she is ignoring it.

We also used professional halogen lights when shooting inside, as it allowed us to keep the lighting level controlled, and consistent when shooting which helped when editing and gave our music video a more stylized look.

How technology was used during the editing process?
When editing the footage, we encountered multiple issues which I had not before experienced. This was as a result of using a higher quality camera, as the files were bigger than the lower quality cameras provided by school, and as a result frequently crashed the school computers meaning very little editing was able to be done. As a result myself and Joe ended up using his Apple Mac using the same Adobe Premiere Pro software which we had begun to use at school, however the mac was much more compatible with the footage meaning we could quickly watch and select the best footage available, and eventually edit and cut the clips into short shots to create our music video.
The biggest challenge that we faced when editing the music video, was removing Joe's (played by Felix) head from the feet shot of the two laying in bed as Felix lifts his head up towards the end of the shot. However we decided that this was the best most authentic looking shot and therefore decided to overcome the problem using a 'matte' tool. Editing this problem was fairly simple once I had established how to do it. All I had to do was find a frame when Felix's head was not stuck up, pause the screen, export the image and then re import it. I was then able to place it over the top of the image so that both backgrounds matched, and cropped the overlay of the imported image just over where Felix had raised his head. However, without such advanced editing software, or if we were shooting on film rather than from files, we would have most likely had to re-shoot the scene or choose a clip that we were not entirely content with.

Once we had cut the footage our biggest task was grading the colours of the shot, which we edited using the 'Curves' tool, and edited the colour tones of the shot to the placement within the video. For example, we gave the initial scenes which focus on the 'blossoming' of their relationship, a red tint to add a feeling of warmth to the shot, and contrastingly added a blueish tint to the shots when the relationship appears to be diminishing.
As well as using curves, the other main tool which we used in Premiere Pro was the brightness and contrast adjustment buttons, which again we manipulated according to the tone of the video.
Although the software offers many other effects and transitions which Joe in particular had excellent knowledge of, we decided that our main priority during the editing would be the lighting and grading as we wanted to keep our footage as raw as we could after we had edited it to a level that we were aesthetically pleased with. This is because it is a style preference which myself and Joe both agreed looked and worked best, as well as it being the most common style of indie-electro music videos, as most aspects of post production focus on lighting and colours, using simple and effective hard cuts to the beat which we too have chosen to use.
Once we had completed our music video, we then exported it onto Youtube to make our music video easily accessible to our audience and the rest of the class. This was particularly important method of distribution, as the artist is low key, and the internet is a cheap and effective way in which new artists are discovered.


Digipak
The internet became again an invaluable source for inspiration for my digi-pak. For example, I received inspiration from the Pixar Youtube video "The Blue Umbrella" as a concept for my digi-pak, and decided to incorporate a red umbrella into my album artwork as a rresut
Once I had decided on my concept for my digi-pak, I once again used the same high definition camera to go and capture the images so that my images would appear more professional. As the camera also had a variety of lenses, I was able to capture a wide panoramic shot of the street for my inside cover in one shot which meant that it appeared a smooth complete shot rather than having to attempt to merge two photographs later in the editing process.
Photoshop was vital in creating my digi-pak and editing my photographs. It permitted me to manipulate my original images to make them more visually appealing, make them all appear consistent in their colour tone, as well as it enabled me to add expected album criteria such as text, barcode, and for my magazine advert, logos and website addresses.
The first tool that I used on photoshop was the crop tool to crop the image and make the composition more focused on my focal point.
 Again, curves was the main tool that I used when editing my image on photoshop. This was because I knew from the intial planning stages of both my music video and digi-pak that I wanted to keep the images left largely 'untampered' , however I wanted to enhance and brighten the colours to reflect the vibrance of the genre.
 Through the use of photoshop  
 curves, I was able to completely change the feel and tone of my image. The weather was bad on the day of shooting the images and therefore the image appeared quite bleak and miserable and visually unappealing. However, I was able to change the colour tones  by taking out some of the blue and adjusting the other colour lines to add a darker tone to the background and a lighter to the foreground. By maintaining a simple vibrant contrasting theme across both my digi-pak and music video, I am establishing a brand style for the band.

Removing tree in photo shop

Using photoshop, I was able to remove parts of the image which I thought cluttered the image, such as during the inside 3 panel shot, I removed the tree as I felt that it distracted the attention too much from Holly, my focal point. I was able to use this using a mixture of the 'Clone stamp tool' and the 'spot healing brush tool' both of which I learnt would remove an image and simply blend it into their surroundings. However, as my knowledge of photoshop was limited before this process, I had to refer to internet sites such as Youtube to discover tutorials on techniques which could enhance my image. This is another example of how I heavily relied upon technology to make my images more professional looking.

Evaluation

New technologies have played an important part throughout my evaluation, as I have used a variety of different formats to display my information on my blog. For example I embedded youtube videos to show specific examples within my question 1 of how I have used develop or challenged conventions of real media products. I then print screened my own music video, exported it as a JPEG image and pasted it onto my blog to compare and demonstrate my point.
 I also took advantage of the wide range of platforms available due to the internet such as Prezi, PhotoPeach and Scribd to display my work to make it more visually interesting and engaging for the reader.