2nd draft of editing the first picture for the digi pak

This is the original picture

I clicked  the quick select tool and my aim was to highlight the back ground.

I Succeed, and i the deleted all the back ground colour by rubbing it of with the rubber tool. And a white background was left behind the artist. This was great because the background was left plain with plenty of room for creativity. 

At this point i had many ideas, one of them of ideas one of them was to create a sort of a broken glass effect on the background.What i did to achieve this was at first i clicked the filter tab right on the.top of the toolbar. I then clicked on the Filter gallery and it brought out all theses options which you can see on the screen. I clicked on the stain glass effect and that is how i achieved the stained glass look. Overall i was too happy with this effect, so i decided to give something else a try.

My next idea was to have a water effect , to act as a background behind the artist.

I clicked on filter again on the toolbar again and then i clicked on Distort, and then  on ripple

Overall i was not happy with he full production as the overall picture did not help to represent a typical hip-hop digipak's front cover. So i decided to make some changes to the overall front cover. Firstly, i changed to overall background colour to black. I decided to add some lighting effects to the background to help with the hip-hop representations.  

Steps to achieving the lighting effect: 

1.    Click on Filter
2.  Then render
3.   then click on lighting effects 

As a result of this, a lighting effect was then created on the top right corner of the background.

I wanted to create even more lighting effects, so i decided to add a lot of little dotted colours on to the background of the picture to make it look more like a club scene.

We were unhappy with the fianl result partially because the quality of the front cover of the digi-pak was low so we decided to scrap the whole thing and start again.

Steps of the first draft of the dig pak

Discsketch Label Software.

I downloaded Discsketch Label software online for free.

 After that the first thing i did after the software had loaded up was i clicked on Select label layout and the on Cd and case then it brought out and empty white Cd Disc.

 I Then Clicked on Add image

Then i clicked on the picture i wanted to use.

I clicked on add text.

Then I wrote the Title of the Cd 'Celebration'.

I then changed the colour of the text to red.

I then changed the font to didcot.

Red colour didn't work so i changed it to brown, 

that didn't work either.

I then changed the colour to orange, i didn't like it.

So i changed the colour to blue

I wasn't happy with blue so i changed it to yellow.

I was fed up as no colour seems to match, so 

i decided to create my own, i finally agreed on this light brown-reddish colour.

I recognized the name of the Artist was missing, so i decided to add it on.

Once again i was not happy with the colour so i changed it to red,

this i then agreed on.

Digi pak cover tryouts

Todorov's theory in relation to our Media project

We are planning to link our music video to Todorov's narration theory, this is a story board we created as to link our video planing with Todorov's narration theory. This storyboard shows the three stages of our music video which Todorov called equilibrium, disequilibrium and resolution. The first stage shows one of us walking out of a lift, the way the lifts opens  represents the start of the music video. The second stage is in the middle of the video where we see people dancing and singing along to our song in the club this represent disequilibrium this will be achieved through the use of fast paced editing. The last stage is the scene where one of us walks into the lift as to show that the night is finished. Our aim is to try and create a music video that can be linked to  Todorov's theory.

Shopping for Music video Props

We decided to buy some shiny gold stars which we can use as a prop in our music video. This will be used to signify that the artist is a star, and with shinny ribbons and stars pouring down on him it will be easy to spot that he is celebrating hes success which is the main narration of the music video.

We decided to buy some masks from the shop so females can use it in our music video as it will make the music video more seductive and therefore here to express the objectification of women. This will the music video to follow the typical stereotype.

Since our Music video is going to be set in a club, we are thinking of using a disco light as a part of the props that is going to show up in our music video. We went out to see if we could buy a disco light, but unfortunately we decided not to buy one because we didn't have any where to hang it on and it was quite expensive.

In typical music videos, money are usually thrown in the air but we wanted to do something different but have the same meaning. So we decided to burn money (fake money) in our music video to show that the artist is rich and wealthy

Music Recording Diary

Day 1
Lyrics Writing.
Location: Cheney school Music department
The three of us that is going feature in the track (Jesse, Josh and Joseph  sat down together and wrote our lyrics together as a group. After we were done, we read  each other's lyrics and we gave opinions about the ones why like and what we could have done better to improve.


Day 2
Rehearsal
Location: Cheney school Music department
we all went to the Music department and rehearsed. At first it we didn't like the chorus because it was not catchy, so we decided to change some bits of the chorus to make it a bit more catchy because Club based Hip-Hop music are usually catchy, so in order to make sure that our Music video fit into the genre and adapt the club theme, we had to make the chorus catchy as well.

Day 3
First Studio Recording Day
Location: Ark-T Center Cowley
On the 2nd of November we had a 2 hours session booked. Unfortunately Jesse Could not make it to the studio that day because he was ill so we knew that the song would not be finished by that day so josh and i went to the studio to record the First draft of 'In the Air' just to see how it will sound and to know if we had to change anything in the beat. By this time i haven't fully memorized my lyrics so my recording did not sound very well because i kept making mistakes. Overall our First Draft wasn't very good because we were not fully prepared. We decide to to book another studio session on the 7th of November in order to rerecord our music.

Day 3
2nd Studio Recording Day
Location: Ark-T Center Cowley
On the 7th of November we all went to the studio which was a 2 hours session. Fortunately none of us was ill and we all made it to the studio on time. Josh recorded first as because he was singing the chorus and his verse was first.   Although he lost his voice a couple of times, overall his recording sounded good. My verse was second and i was happy with my recording as well. The Recording went well because, by this time i had learnt and memorized all my lyrics so my verse sounded well and just the way i wanted it to be.Jesse's verse was last and his recording also went well it took a while for him to his verse right and on time. We ran out of time so we had to book another session to edit and master the song which we have created.

Day 4
2nd Studio Recording Day
Location: Ark-T Center Cowley
We went to the Studio on the 15th of November. After listening to the recorded song over and over again we concluded that we wanted to make some few changes to the song. For example; Josh wanted to add another layer of his voice to the song and Jesse wanted to rerecord the last bit of his verse. They succeeded and everything when well as planed. While the song was being edited we all had ideas of what effect we wanted to add to the song. For example Josh wanted to add a G-verb to the chorus  Jesse wanted to add a delay and an echo to his verse and i wanted to add an heart beat to my verse. Everything went well and the song was mastered to make sure it had the best quality. After the session we were all pleased with the production.

Risk Assements

Tripod	We have to make sure that no one trips over the tripod, especially in the dark when all the lights are turned off.
Lightening equipment heat hazard	We will be using lots equipments; they usually get very hot after they are turned on for some time. We are going to make sure that anyone that is in charge of lightening will we aware of this and they will make sure they do not touch the hot parts e.g. the bulb as it may significantly burn their skin.
Smashed bottle	We will make sure that the smashed bottle is totally cleaned up to stop anyone from getting injured.
Environment	Before we start fill or shooting we will make sure that the area is tidy and there is nothing hazardous on the ground where we are filming.
Fireworks	For legal reasons we will shoot fireworks on Bonfire night so that we will not break they law by shooting it in a public place on an ordinary day.
Candles	We will make sure that there isn't any flammable substance nearby so that the will  not catch fire while the candles are on.
Filming in the dark	Before we shoot at night we will go to that area when its bright to make the area is hazard free.
Camcorder wires	We will make sure that camcorder wires are visible to who ever is participating and the actors to ensure that no one trips over the wires.

Filming Plan/ Dairy

Day 1
Location: Cheney School Media Mac room
Close ups
Before the Day: We are going to shoot close ups of each artist doing doing their verses.

On the Day: We wanted to give our Music video a typical music video look so we decided to record with a plain white background, this was achieved with the plain white board on in our schools mac room. We shot with two big lightning equipment which helped to increase the brightness of the video and made it look more professional.


Day 2-
Location: Cheney School Drama Block
Mid Shots
Before the day: We will focus on mid shots because we want the audience to be able to see and therefore compare the costumes used in our music video with other Party Hip-Hop music videos. 

On the day: At first it didn't go well because the Drama class room which we recorded in didn't have a plain wall so when we recorded, the background did not look clean an it was obvious that we had shot the video in a drama room. As a result of this we decided to change the location. We then changed to location to the Mac room, and we decided to use the white black projector screen as it had a white background. This was a great idea and it worked perfectly.

Day 3 
Location: Cheney School Dance studio
Mise en scene
Before  the day:We will be focusing on mise en scene, for example we are going to have shiny ribbons floating down on the main artist, as this will help to create a happy, celebration atmosphere which will help us to portray the Club/Party theme in the Hip-Hop genre we have chosen. 

On the Day: We shot fireworks exploding in the sky  at night, this will help us to portray the celebratory theme in our music video. We choose to record at night because that is when the fireworks are a lot more visible. Recording at night was quite hard because some of the videos which we recorded was too dark because we didn't really have a big touch and the lamps that we had were too big for us to carry outside and it also needed to be plugged in for it to work so we couldn't really use them. We had to shoot a few times until we got the best result.
   
 Day 4
Location: A Hall in St Clements Oxford
Party
Before the day: we are going to film some parts of the music video in my friend's birthday party which will take place in a hall with lights similar to that in a club. This is because just club-music nowadays, our music video will be set in a Club. 

On the day: We informed everyone that we were going to shoot a video for our Music video and we told them to let us know if they did not want to be involved. Fortunately, everyone  wanted to get involved so it was a lot easier for us to record. This was a success because the location had a lot of lights, which makes the hall look like a club.


Day 5
Location: Cheney Mac room
Close up on Props
Before the day: we will be focusing on shooting little props but very significant to the genre we have chosen, we will be focusing on props such as necklace, watches, rings and Expensive trainers.

On the Day: we placed the trainers on a white background and shot some video clips of it. The outside light was against us so the quality of the video we shot was not very good because some part of it was too bright. However, after shooting a few clips, some was quite good and we decided to keep the best one and crop the bits that was too bright out.
After shooting the trainers we then decided to shoot the jewelries and watches but it didn't go as plan because, the video didn't look right.It did not look right probably because of the white background behind it, we didn't get enough time to change the background colour so next time we shot we will make sure we do this.

Schedule list

Day	Task
Monday	Media lesson video- editing
Tuesday
Wednesday	Video-shooting (at lunch)
Thursday
Friday	Picture shots
Saturday	Sorting out props
Sunday

Planning the Digi Pak (rough idea)

Just like typical Hip Hop Digi Pak, the Front always has the name of the Picture of the artist, the name of the Album (Celebration)  and the artist's name (Josh Jen) on the Front of it.

• Nice Dark shades to make the Artist look cool.
• Close up shot on the artist face so that he's fans can easily recognize he's albums in stores and therefore this will help him sell more albums. 
• Nice bold name on the top of the front of the digi pak so that the artist can be easily recognized.

We also chose to add the name of the Production Company (Fade to Black) on the Front of the digi pak to show who it is produced by.

•  Nice Bold letters for the Title of the Album 'Celebration' to give the audience an idea of what the songs in the album would be like before listening to them.

This is an idea of how the inside of the digi Pak would look like. The Cd will be by the left hand side, an on the Cd there will be a little picture of the Artist's Face on it as well as he's and the name of the album.

On the back of typical Digi Paks all the songs in the album are always listed out with the name of the other Artists Featuring in the Album.