Diary 20/12/12

Coming up to the holidays I have made a list of everything I have left to complete. I intend to get all the grunt work done by the end of the holidays including the majority of my filming so that upon return all I need to do is tie up the loose ends and start my evaluation.

Digipak Front Cover Draft 2

I decided the plain textured background wasn't effective enough so I re-thought my initial ideas and tied my draft in more closely with the band's style.

Analysis of Music Video

I chose to analyse the music video "Waking The Demon" by Bullet For My Valentine as it clearly lays out the narrative but also shows the band playing as it's their song and that's what the fans want.
The opening long shot sets the scene of an american high school and introduces the main character.
A cut is then used by the director in order to show the band and put a face to the global name of 'Bullet For My Valentine'. Unlike a TV show this is a regular convention, cutting between the story and the band and often helps pull the audience out of the story and allow them to relate it to their own lives. The video then outlines the underlying issue that the main character is up against, in this case, bullying.
The use of this issue and also showing the band suggests that some or all of the band members were bullied when they were in school.
The video shows the boy crossing days off a calendar throughout, this is significant as it shows you the progression of time and the corresponding bullying and its severity on that day. The video aims to make the audience empathise with this main character. The use of costume also helps this, by dressing him in a metal style it means that the intended audience; metal-heads, will respond to this and view the boy as their peer.
Towards the end of the video we see the boy getting ready to fight back. Distracting the bully's girlfriend so that he's alone in the woods. The video is cut to the calendar once again showing the words "FULL MOON" circled in red. This gives connotations of werewolves and blood, alluding to the eventual death of the bully by the boy who turned in to a werewolf on the last day of the month.
In the last part of the video we see a "Missing" sign with the bully's face on it and the main character walking towards his locker again. Another boy nudges the main character and proceeds to push him against the lockers. This time, instead of feeling sympathy for the main character, we see a close-up him cross the first day off the calendar and a short range walk past the camera smiling. The audience is now firmly rooting for this main character despite the terrible act he's committed.

Digipak Front Cover Draft

This is my first draft of my Digipak front cover but I am not completely happy with it, I feel that a simple textured background doesn't fit with the genre of music I have chosen. I am re-doing the front cover with a better picture as the background with simple text over the top instead, as I feel it will be much more effective.

Diary 04/12/12

Today our teacher has chosen to use the carrot rather than the stick. He has urged us to have either '1st shoot + mag ad', '1st shoot + Digipak' or 'mag ad + digipak' ready by the beginning of Thursdays lesson and if we do we will be awarded with a cake. I dont feel I will be able to meet this deadline due to other subject exams but I'm sure I will make significant progress.