Construction Post 2: Week 2 production

Having finished our week of filming footage for the music video, we turned our attention to our latest priorities of sorting our rushes & editing the video, plus starting work on the website and taking promo shots for the site and the Digipak.

Our files, organised into
their respective folders.
We also made sure to give
each take an easily
recognisable name, e.g
G(iGi) LS Sofa Pose.

WEEK 2: EDITING/WEBSITE/PROMOS

This week, our main focuses were:
-Renaming rushes
-Organising them into files
-Colour-coding shots based on setups
-Choosing the best takes
-Editing & dragging shots onto the timeline
-Taking promo shots for the website


EDITING THE MUSIC VIDEO:

Our first task this week was to edit the music video. In order to help later on in post-production and to keep our Premiere Pro file organised, we sorted the different rushes into a particular folder - firstly distinguishing them from our test shoot footage, then into its relevant setup and from there into another folder based on its shot type. This was definitely a positive decision, as our organisation meant that we were quickly and easily able to find the shots we needed when editing them, and so the entire editing process was sped up hugely.

(Our final timeline) Having colour-coded each shot based on its setup

Phoebe then had the idea to further organise shots - noting that we could colour-code, or label, each of our shot a different colour. As a result, we then dedicated time during the week to painstakingly label each shot to match the colour of the lighting in a particular setup, so for instance performance would be purple, land girls green, etc. Once more, this proved an extremely effective and useful way of cutting the time of the editing process, as it made finding a particular shot either on the timeline or in a rushes folder that bit easier.

At the edit suite

Edit > Label > (colour)
How we colour-coded shots

After finally organising all of our shots into relevant folders, the next task was to actually start dragging shots onto the timeline. We started by choosing the best takes from what we wanted to include at a particular point in the video, before marking rough in & out points and dragging them onto the timeline. Some of our footage which we felt was particularly good this week was the section at the start with the different angles of whistling, and the addition of a cross dissolve which we thought was an aesthetic positive:

In my opinion, our progress on the video by the end of the week was very positive, and we had made inroads on the first and last 20-second segments of the video by the end of the week. This also meant that we had left ourselves in a really good position in terms of time to complete the video.

Our progress at the end of Construction week 2

EDITING THE WEBSITE:

The website was an area which we changed throughout this week. Originally, Georgina was put in charge of the website's production, and she created an initial base design, which we eventually used as a plan to start understanding the various functions and advantages of Wix - instead of our actual website - because we felt it would be best to use one of the templates which the website offers as they are specifically designed with certain professions and music genres in mind, and were already equipped with features and pages which we could then tailor to our own artist.

The template (Electropop Singer) which we decided to use

Once this initial decision was taken, we reshuffled roles towards the end of the week, with Georgie moved onto editing the video, Phoebe would move to album production when we started with the Digipak next week, and I was therefore put on making the website.

Georgina's initial website design. We ended up shuffling roles
 later in the week, and I took over designing the website.

Little Mix's Q&A-style biography
page on their website was a really
useful reference for our own project.

With Georgina having made some progress on the structure of the website, such as a footer with social media links, uploading our artist and record company logo and producing a header with buttons, I was able to transfer these onto a new website template and continue editing from there. Georgie had also made a biography page in a question-and-answer format similarly to that on the website of Little Mix. This ensured that we included a Q&A which gratified the audience's need for information, whilst remaining conventional.

Some of the other improvements which I made were:

-Improving the website footer:

I used real-life examples such as the
websites of Selena Gomez (above) &
Taylor Swift (below)

I improved the footer in a number of ways, using existing examples from websites such as those of Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez to add a more refined, conventional appearance. For example, I stylised the social media icons as white silhouettes (as seen on Selena Gomez's website) and added links to a Terms & Conditions page, and Privacy Policy.

 The design of the original footer (above) vs my design + additional improvements (below).

  I designed our privacy policy and Ts & Cs page. The policy was largely based on Taylor

Swift's, though I ensured I changed ours to be addressed to a UK audience, and referred

to our own artist and record label throughout.

-Additions to pages:

Working on our website's
shop. The addition of a
purple background is
visible on-screen.

I made additions to the pages which had already been setup, linking a quiz to the bio page, as the audience feedback had noted that there were too many blocks of writing. It would also add a sense of interactivity, and gratify the audience's need for involvement. Moreover, having explored the widgets and perks of Wix, I added a shop page - both a convention of modern artist websites, and furthering this gratification through a number of purchasing opportunities.



-Changing the typeface & colour scheme
I also set to work changing the entire design of the website, incorporating what I believed was better use of our artist's main colour, purple. This would also ensure synergy between the logo (which has a purple glow), performance setup (purple lighting) and website. Meanwhile, I changed the font of the site from a formal serif font, Georgia, to a much more rounded font, Brandon Grotesque, which would connote a pop artist far better than the original.

(left) I began editing the details of the contact page this week,  

(right) I then altered the site's colour scheme & font.

SHOOTING PROMO PICTURES:

An example of the shot
which we wanted to retake

The third task of the second construction week was to take promo pictures for both the website and Digipak. This ran relatively smoothly on the whole, and we started well as Phoebe had diligently produced a series of poses & reference points already, and gave good instructions to Georgina, so I was left to set up the camera and ensure Georgie remained in focus and well-lit as flash was on.

Phoebe's collection of sketches to
 prepare for the promo photoshoot

One initial drawback was that Georgina's hair and makeup took a little longer than expected to prepare, and we had to shoot 20 minutes behind - though fortunately our bank of references and promo poses meant that we knew what we wanted to shoot, and thus saved time searching for ideas.

 (left) Taking promo pictures of GiGi      (right) Directing whilst Phoebe is on camera

A selection of promo shots.

As such, we were left with numerous takes of GiGi in different costumes, poses and framing, which we could use across a number of platforms such as online, on social media and for the Digipak. The one negative was that upon reflection, we felt that our planned Digipak shots weren't as polished as we expected. We decided they were slightly too messy in the end, and that the glitter on GiGi's face looked strange and unconventional, as confirmed by a member of the target audience. As well as this, we never quite settled on a pose, and in many of the photos it seemed GiGi had a disinterested look.

Some of the first promo pictures we took. Though we made sure to
capture a range of poses and expressions, we didn't settle on any of
them going forward, and also felt the glitter in the face didn't work.

Overall, though, this week has once again been very productive, though once more we are aware of what we need to do in the coming weeks to improve - such as continuing to add pages and content to the website, taking new shots for the Digipak with glitter just in GiGi's hair rather than also her face, and also continuing to edit the video and implement the improvements we flagged from the test shoot.