Album Track List.

To promote realism, I have decided to post the track list that will accompany my digi-pick in terms of my album cover. This track list is the real track list from The Wombats' album; "The Wombats proudly present:A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation" (their first album). I retrieved the album listing from my own CD at home, but the track listing can be found anywhere easily on websites such as Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wombats_Proudly_Present:_A_Guide_to_Love,_Loss_%26_Desperation#Track_listing

Track listing:
1.
"Tales of Girls, Boys & Marsupials"
1:10
2.
"Kill the Director"
2:42
3.
"Moving To New York"
3:31
4.
"Lost in the Post"
3:06
5.
"Party in a Forest (Where's Laura?)"
3:27
6.
"School Uniforms"
3:14
7.
"Here Comes the Anxiety"
2:31
8.
"Lets Dance To Joy Dvision"
3:11
9.
"Backfire At The Disco"
3:13
10.
"Little Miss Pipedream"
4:12
11.
"Dr. Suzanne Mattox PhD"
3:33
12.
"Patricia the Stripper"
4:01
13.
"My First Wedding" (hidden track - Tales of Girls, Boys and Marsupials piano instrumentation version)
6:38

As you can see, my chosen song; "Kill The Director" is second in the album, and from my knowledge of music albums, generally means it is one of the more popular ones. Using this, I know I will have to maintain a high level of standards.

Real Problems!

Hello,
I'm just writing a quick message to talk about a few problems i've come up with in my Media coursework, and to profusely apologize.
The filming is done. That is to say, all filming has been completed. My only problem is to do with technology. For the past week or so I have been suffering technical problems in terms of editing my film and this has caused a lot of stress. The editing itself is a tricky process for me (something I discuss in my evaluation) and i've spent so much time trying to fix my laptop and the software at school for this editing it's taking a lot of time.
I'm trying to reconcile these problems, and it should all get started again shortly!
My sincerest apologies.

Video Diary.

I've recorded a video diary to get face to face with my audience and to explain to them personally why I have not been posting many posts recently, and what i'm up to at the moment. My video diary was made my IMovie Maker on an Apple Mac computer, to which I then uploaded onto www.vimeo.com . My video diary is only short and split into two sections - one being the introduction and the other my conclusion. Whilst its not very good - and I can assure you I got plenty of practise - I hope you can appreciate both the effort thats been put in, and the difficulty of having to improvise speech into a camera in a room full of people!

media video diary a2 from Alex Machin on Vimeo.

media video diary a2+ from Alex Machin on Vimeo.

Creating My Album Cover & Poster - Software.

In order to create my album cover and promotional poster, I will be using various different softwares and mediums. One of the most important softwares I will be using is Macromedia Fireworks. Macromedia Fireworks is a popular software that has now been taken over my Microsoft due to its popularity and high use; i've decided to compile a list of pro's and con's and a summary of why i'm using it.




Pro's of using Macromedia Fireworks

• I've used the software before on numerous occasions (including my AS media project) so I have substantial experience and know how to use it readily. In my school, Fireworks is used readily so most people have knowledge of how it is used - I can always get help.
• Fireworks is both available in my school and home - this was important for me so I can continue my project both inside and outside of school.
• Fireworks is easy to use (though this could be because i've had experience with it)
• It looks professional and has many options to use in order to create a professional and smart looking album cover/poster.
• Its free within school

Con's of using Macromedia Fireworks

• I've had a few problems with it before - there's been on some occasions the inability to save my work and this becomes frustrating. Generally however, it works well.
• There are more professional looking software's out there, though these may cost quite a bit.

Generally, I can't think of many con's for Macromedia Fireworks - it's a good piece of software to which I enjoy working with to part/primarily create my album cover and my music video poster to.

Props.

I've decided to post the making and development of my props to show the effort that has been put in, and what type of props i'll be using. I had a lot of fun in the making of these props. Here are some of my props and how I made them and how I will be using them:

My signs:
As I've mentioned before, I will use large signs as part of the comical effect of my music video, linking them intertextually to my music song lyrics. I used some simple cardboard, plain black poster paint and printed pictures of the directors Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino to spell out and show the title "Kill The Director" and the bands name, "The Wombats". These resources came from my school's art room and could have been obtained readily. I hope that this will be effective, as the large black words stand out enough for a camera. As an added bonus, I created the words to look similar to my chosen font, and in that way the video will have a direct link to my album cover, creating authenticity. I hope this is something my audience will pick up when watching my music video and evaluating my album cover.

Soup:

As strange as it sounds, I will use soup in the lyric "I've met someone that makes me feel sea sick" with the intention of creating the soup to look like sick and to further link the lyrics to the music video, thus creating intertextuality. Once again, the soup/sick idea will be to create a comical effect to my music video, appealing to my teenage target audience with the comically gross effect it could create.

Guitar:

I'm not too sure if i'm using this prop yet, but its a definite possibility. The guitar will add to the music in the song (which is primarily made up of guitar beats) and also relate to the indie, teenage, target audience. From my knowledge, I know one of the actors I am using has a guitar (as does a relative of mine), and there would be a few to borrow from the music area of my school meaning guitars would be readily available. However, the guitars would run the risk of being damaged, and something so valuable would result in my paying out a lot to compensate the losses. Thats why most of my props so far have been simple, cheap and easily broken/thrown away. This will be something I will have to consider when deciding whether or not I use a guitar as a prop in my music video.

Filming Schedule.

I thought it would be in my best interests to post my previous filming schedule for my music video. So far, everything is almost wrapped up though I need to film small bits here and there that need perfecting. I've decided to post my filming schedule to demonstrate the organisation that has been put into my filming process, and for myself to get into perspective my filming times and dates. Here is my following schedule:

• 30th September 12:00pm - Meeting with my actors at lunch time to discuss the filming process, what I want from them and what they need to bring.



• 2nd October 11:00am - Equiptment, props, actors, scenery checking - running through to see if everything is okay.



• 3rd October 9:00am - First lot of filming is started. I have decided to individually film all three of the actors to then conglomerate them together in editing. My first actor to be filmed is Actor 2 - Jamie Adams.



• 14th October 2:00pm - After taking a look at the first lot of filming, i've taken the second lot with Actor 1 -Phil Hawkings.



• 25th October 1:00pm - Next I have begun filming with Actor 3 - Tom Winship. I have also reviewed the previous filming to make amends on what needs to happen next.


• 2nd November 10:00am - In my free, I have begun to discuss the extras filming with my extra Rachel Hilton. We set up a later date for filming together.


• 8th November 9:00am - I started to film small bits of the extras scenes, and bits in which actors aren't included.

So whats next? After the small ends are tied up, I should start my editing by mid-late November, leaving me enough time to make small amends if necessary.

Colour Scheme Feedback.

I wanted to explore whether or not the colour scheme idea (that being completely black and white with only one fundemental colour) was a good idea and whether or not my audience would prefer this idea over the ones of my general colour scheme ideas. I conducted a short survery in my class and will post the results as follows;


My bar chart was created using Microsoft Excel, I did not want to use the previous website as I wanted a more diverse range of software. As you can see, the black and white idea gained more popularity once i'd explained the kind of idea i'd be going with. Below is some feedback from my classmates;

Chris B - I really liked the idea of the black and white colour scheme with the one colour as, having watched Schindlers List, I saw for myself the impact it can create in any forms of media. However, it might be a challenge to keep the album cover looking interesting and alive.

Ashleigh - Though the idea of black and white being the central theme to the album cover sounds artistic, I much prefer the idea of colour because I think it will link much better to the theme of the music song and video, that being because its much more fun and upbeat. I also think if its colour it will attract an audience more.

Lance - The black and white colour scheme will work well in my opinion. This is because it seems to be more male targeted and therefore would suit the male target more. The colour schemes look good, but seem a bit too girly.

Jack - The colour schemes seem to me too bright and busy. I prefer the black and white idea much more as I think it will create an intense impact that will draw the reader in and it relates to the indie theme of The Wombats.

Rachel - I really like the idea of the Black and White theme because it seems alluring and a bit romantic, something that would suit well in terms of the theme of the music song and video.

Sarah - Personally, I am more of a colour person and because of this, I prefer the colour scheme. Though I do appreciate the effect of the black and white colour scheme, this is just a personal preference.

Amy P - Though the colour scheme seems interesting, my personal preference is the black and white scheme because it seems a classic technique that has worked for lots of other media mediums.