A Wizard, A True Star

This is the cover artwork to "A Wizard, A True Star" by Todd Rundgren. Kevin Parker has said this album was particularly influential on the sound of "Lonerism"; the album my song is taken from. This therefore could be a very good album to take an artwork Idea from. The artwork consists of A main image of a face along side a number of psychedelic images. It is these images that I think would best work  as part of my own design. I have a number of options to use here. These include the 3D effect logo in the bottom left corner, the woodblock children's toy used for the text, and the various stars/shapes dotted around the image.

This 3D effect shape found in the bottom left corner of the design is very interesting in the way that it works while also being quite eye catching. It also gives me a number of options in the way I could use it if I incorporated it into my design. I could either try and replicate the whole graphic; which may be problematic due to my limited design skills, or I could use just one of the six triangular shapes on its own; which I think would make a strong image. I like this idea as it would make a relatively easy to do and simple, bold design while effectively using my idea of taking a graphic from the cover of an influential album of the same genre. The only downside to this particular image is that it does not bare any particular reference or relativity to the song.

This use of children's woodblock toy for the font of the album text is very interesting. It is quite an original design and the theme of childhood and innocence is quite a common theme in psychedelic art and culture so it would be quite appropriate to use in my own design. The theme of childhood could also fit in to my whole "backwards" idea as it could be scene as the idea of going backwards in time back to childhood. However the problem of using this idea in my design is that I wanted to use one single graphic, so I would either have to break my own design plans and use a number of these woodblocks, or write all the text of the design on one single woodblock; which I'm not sure would look as effective.
                                                                                                                                                                 

The final part of this design that I have considered using in my own design is the numerous star/pattern images used throughout the design. While these images are good single images that could be used. I feel that many of them are too complex for the sort of design I was thinking of and probably not as noticeable as part of this album artwork. However they do fit the psychedelic theme of the song and are strong images so i may experiment with recreating some of these. 

Filming 20/02/15

Despite the set back of Izzy being ill and unable to attend the filming; today I got a good amount of footage filmed. I managed to film all my scenes on the Westwood and a number of shots against the wall. I also manged to film more walking shots which I need to use multiple times in my video as well as some films of the Westwood environment  to use in my "psychedelic effects" shots. This leaves me with only a few more shots that need filming. These include the glass breaking shot and the shots at the end of the sequence that include Izzy. I now have the majority of the body of shots I need to complete my work so as soon as I get back to college I will start spending much more time editing.

Filming Plan For 20/02/15

I have decided that I will try to film all my remaining footage tomorrow on Friday the 20th February. I have contacted my actors via Facebook's messaging service to confirm the date with them and both have said they can do it.

The weather forecast shows that it will be a cloudy and warm day with low precipitation which is pretty much perfect conditions for what I want to do and fits in with the weather in my previously filmed shots.  

 

Filming 17/02/15

Today I managed to successfully film a number of shots that I need for my video. These consisted of the shots of my actor lying on his bed. Before filming I organised my storyboard to bring the shots that I need to the front so I knew exactly what i was filming and how I was doing it.



The filming was quite successful. I got all my basic shots filmed to a good standard with good framing and good lighting conditions. However when we were setting up to do my last shot of the day; the shot of Tom falling onto the bed, my camera battery malfunctioned so we could not film. However apart from this I think it was a successful day and it is very satisfying to finally have some new footage to work with. I hope to film further footage later this week.

Health and Safety

The environment I am filming in is quite a small room so there are a few health and safety notes for me to think about. We must be careful that all loose wires on the floor are tidied in one place or swept away to avoid any tripping up etc. Another thing we must be careful of is making sure the tripod and camera themselves are secure. Due to the birds eye view type of shot I am trying to achieve here I have to place the tripod on the bed with the actor underneath it. I therefore have to make sure that the tripod is secure at all times on the unstable surface of the bed so I have arranged to bring extra help in my girlfriend; Ellie to make sure the tripod is always up straight and not going to fall over and potentially injure my actor.

Filming Plan for 17/2/15

I have started making plans to film my shots of Tom on the bed this Tuesday. I only need Tom for these scenes so Izzie was not needed.

 

I reminded my actor to wear the same clothes as had been used in my last session of filming and organised a time to meet him at his house. I organised exactly which shots I was going to film on this day which included shots 39, 47, 79, 80, 85, 87 and 88. The weather report showed me that it would be very bright for this time of the year which was good news for the natural lighting of the shots. 

Talkie Walkie

This is the cover for "Talkie Walkie" by Air. Kevin Parker said that this album was particularly influential on Tame Impala's sound so it may be a good idea to observe what could be borrowed from the art-work of this album cover. This album cover features a simpler design than Disraeli gears however at the same time it doesn't seem to feature any particularly standout images.

The only main image on the cover is a picture of the band themselves which would be hard to use and wouldn't particularly fit in with the psychedelic genre or my idea of using one particular graphic. The only particularly noticeable feature of the photo is that they are both wearing leather gloves, however I don't feel this would be appropriate to my design.

The only other feature of this cover is the written equations behind the artists. These could appear as a graphic on my cover; for example the equation of time would be appropriate to the theme of the song. However in reality I think an equation would make quite a weak main image so I don't think I will be including it on my design. It would of been nice to use something from this album design as it is an album that is particularly influential on the bands sound however in reality there is nothing I could borrow that would make the simple standout design I am aiming for.    

However the canvas style background and the hand writing style text used in this design are a couple of elements that I do like. I think these may be good ideas to use in my own design as this background is simple and effective so it shifts all the attention to the main image; which I wish to do in my own design. I also think the handwritten style text would be effective as it suits this background and keeps with the psychedelic these of art/drawings that is seen in a lot of psychedelic imagery and album covers.

3rd Upload 2nd Draft

I have again re-uploaded my video; this time as a windows media file with the 1080hp 25p pre-set. I feel like this is superior to my previous uploads in quality and I am much more happier with it. It is best viewed with YouTube's highest quality setting. 

Second Draft Video- Re-Upload

Seeing as my first attempt at uploading my 2nd draft of my video came out in much lower quality as expected; I decided to re-upload it after researching more into export settings. An article I found on www.premiumbeat.com taught me that the best format to export a video for YouTube was H.264. I exported my video in this format with the 1080hp 29.97 pre-set. This yielded a much better result than last time however after uploading it to YouTube it was unfortunately again of lower quality than I expected. 

Second Draft of Video

This is my finished second draft of my video. Whilst not having anymore footage; there are no gaps in the filming and I feel I have shown much more skill in editing and the use of effects. However I unfortunately seem to of made in error when exporting the file so it is in lower quality then I would of hoped. I will therefore try to fix this as soon as i can however my absence from college next week will make this difficult to do before my deadline.

Disraeli Gears

This is the cover to Disraeli Gears by Cream. As this was a big inspiration and influence on Kevin Parker and Tame Impala I thought it may be a good idea to look for inspiration that I can take from this album cover or a single image or graphic I can use. This is classic psychedelic cover art; featuring bright colours and numerous patterns and graphics. Therefore it makes it hard to pick one particular image from the cover as a whole. Seeing as I wanted to use one particular standout image; it would be hard for me to use one of the coloured patterns as these are numerous and complex. This leaves me to look and particular graphics from the cover as a whole.

One particular standout idea is that of the clocks on the bottom left and right corners of the cover. Clocks and time are quite a common feature in psychedelic art and culture so this could be an effective image to use in my own work. It could also relate to the "Backwards" theme of my song and video and I could show the clock hands moving backwards and turning back time. Therefore these are particularly strong contenders from this cover for a graphic for me to use in my own design. However their disadvantage is that they are not particularly noticeable; therefore the association between my use of the clocks and this classic cover may not be recognised; which ruins the point of using them.

Another graphic from this cover is the pink gramophone horns disguised as flowers. I like this image as it represents music as well as the psychedelic imagery of bright colored flowers. Therefore this may also make a strong image to use in my own design. However without other flowers around it the idea of the gramophone disguised as a flower may not work as well; which would mean having to introduce more flowers which would ruin my idea of having just one main graphic.

The final image from this cover that I have considered using is the wings on the side of the band name. I think these are some of the more iconic graphics on the sleeve and they are brightly coloured and fit in with the psychedelic theme of nature; so they would therefore make a good graphic to use in my design.

While I like all these ideas; I think the idea of the clock or the wings are stronger than the idea of the gramophone. And I think as a singular graphic, the image of a clock would be stronger and more iconic than that of the wings. The  image of the clock is also more related to my backwards theme so  is therefore the strongest candidate of the three. However i still may experiment wit the other two when creating drafts.  

Editing For Second Draft

Seeing as I will not be able to film any more footage for the second draft of my video; I have started to get much more into the editing side of things to improve the quality of my current footage and achieve the psychedelic feel that I planned. Through experimentation on Premier Pro I discovered a number of techniques that I have started to learn to use to create the desired effects and make my video seem more professional

One important effect I used was the "dip to black" video transition. This is important in the opening seconds of my video to fit in with the on the beat transitions between shots. It is also needed later in my video for the parts filmed in the wooded area.  I used this transition by dragging it across from the effects library and onto the end and beginning of the two clips I want to edit together. I then fine tuned the positioning and the length of the transition until I achieved
the desired affect.














An effect I have used to create the psychedelic feel of the video was the solarise effect from the stylize section of the effects panel. This effect was very effect in some shots, especially when applied gradually. I did this by making a duplicate of the clip I wanted top use and putting this is a separate channel to my original clip. I then dragged the solarise effect from the effects panel and applied it to the duplicate clip. I then used automation on the opacity control for the effected clip so it gradually increases creating the illusion of the solarise effect gradually gradually taking over the dry clip. On this particular shot I also used the replicate tool to create the panel effect that is reminiscent of psychedelic 60's pop art like that of Andy Warhol; particularly his famous picture of The Beatles.

I used the same technique when using the Colour Emboss effect to create a grainy cartoon effect on another sequence. However this time I used the automation on the opacity control to create a line linking over three separate clips which required me to set the levels of opacity very accuratelyto create a straight rising line.

Finally to create my shot that i marked in my story board as just as "Psychedelic Effects", I took a short sequence of film that didn't include my actors and applied numerous effects to it using the opacity automation method I previously described. On my wet clip I applied solarise and threshold effects to create a psychedelic and almost cartoon type effect which then melts into the next shot with a twirl effect transition that I found in the preset library. However to make this effective I also had to apply a dip to black transition on my dry clip so that it seemed to "disappear" properly. I have found this mix of effects very useful for filling in the gaps where in my footage and really achieve the psychedelic feel I was hoping for.

 


 These are just some examples of the many effects I have used and I felt it was important to show them as they are a vital part of the editing process and the video in general.

Ancillary Text Planning

I think the main point I have taken from my ancillary text research is that the best album covers have a singular main feature on the design whilst trying to reflect the feel of the music. This therefore will be the main idea I take into account when creating my own design. The other technique that I thought was successful in creating a good design was inter-textually referencing other albums that may of had an influence on the music. Therefore I may also use this when creating my own design as it may be easier to find some inspiration from other work; as well as making my design more interesting.

To try and find out what other albums may have influenced Tame Impala's music. My research took me to a very useful "Soundtrack To My Life" article form the Guardian website by Kevin Parker; Tame Impala's songwriter and singer.
 

This article led me to discovering a couple of big influences on Tame Impala's sound. Cream's "Disraeli Gears" album was the record that got Parker into Psychedelic rock. He describes how he discovered it in his early 20's and its rumbling, fuzzed-out sound "Blew his mind". The other album that I found in the article was "Talkie Walkie" by Air. Parker described this album as the album that had the most influence on tame Impala's sound and that made him release music "doesn't have to sound like a band". It's huge layered and varied electronic sounds are a big influence on the sound of the band so taking something from the albums artwork may be effective.  

More research led me to discovering that the album; "A Wizard, A True Star" by Todd Rundgren was also a very big influence on the sound of Tame Impala; specifically on their 2012 "Lonerism" album that the song I am using is from. Therefore I think it would also be a good contender for any inspiration taken for the cover art as it would directly reference this influence on the sound. 

Ancillary Text Research 2

Following my research into the conventions and successes of album covers from a broader musical spectrum, I decided to look more into album art within the psychedelic genre.

One of my favourite psychedelic album covers is "K" by the 90's Indian-influenced psych band Kula Shaker. The cover art is designed by comic-book artist Dave Gibbons. It features a generic bright psychedelic colour scheme which is a common feature of psych albums and is therefore something i may use in my own design. The main feature of the album is an image of the Hindu god Krishna; which reflects the Indian musical influence on the sound of the album which is a technique I have discovered in my previous research of album art from a wider musical spectrum. However I think the most interesting aspect of this design is the characters in blue. All these characters are people or things that's name begin with K; such as Lord Kitchener, Martin Luther King, a Knight and Karl Marx. This is very interesting as a design and as an example of a post modern text as it continues numerous inter textual references to each character; especially so with characters from other media texts such as the film "King Kong". It can also be seen as a pastiche of or reference to the classic Beatles album cover for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" which is a classic 60's psych album which may have influenced the music of this album. The cover art of the Beatles album; by pop artists Peter Blake and John Haworth features a collage of life sized cardboard cut-outs of various famous people. I think this was purposely referenced by Gibbon's when he created the artwork for "K" and is an idea that I could use myself; pastiching a classic psych album's artwork.   

Another psychedelic album that I like the artwork of is Tame Impala'a own first album "Innerspeaker". This album cover; designed by Leif Podhajsky, is originally a picture of the Great Smoky Mountain Range National Park in North Carolina. This image has been digitally edited to create a "Droste Effect" to make it appear as if the picture infinitely continues into itself, which creates a very psychedelic image. This theme of trippy scenery and nature is a common theme in psychedelic art and is therefore something I should consider including in my own design. The psychedelic artwork on the cover also  reflects the psychedelic nature of the music to the audience; which is an important factor of it's success. Another interesting feature is that this use of the Droste Effect has been used in Pink Floyd's "Ummagumma" album; an album from when Pink Floyd were bridging across from Psychedelic to Progressive Rock; again showing a use of possible pastiche and intertextual referencing, which is beginning to become a theme I have discovered in psychedelic album art. 

The last design that I find interesting is that of Allah Las's self titled debut album. I think this is an interesting design because it is a simple but iconic drawing rather than a series of graphics or an interesting photo like most album art within the genre. I also think this is a successful design because it reflects the simple form of the bands music compared to their contemporary's within the genre. But I think the main reason I like this design is that like my favourite designs from my previous research; it has only really got one main focus and that is the picture of the woman holding the sea shell to her ear. I believe this one single image makes the design as a whole stand out more rather than a more complex design with a number of graphics and is therefore something I will most likely use in my own design.     

Filming

Unfortunately my main actor; Tom, had to pull out of filming last minute due to illness. This meant that I could not get any filming done as he in crucial to almost every shot in my planned product. This has set me back considerably as I am away for a week from next Sunday onwards which means I may struggle to find another date to film in time for my deadline on the 13th. However in terms of editing I am getting to grips much more with using Premier Pro and getting much more into the effects side of the process. Therefore I feel that even without new footage I can deliver a considerably improved second draft compared to my first one. Also in hindsight the weather was quite bad on Sunday with considerable rain which would not of been good for the camera and would of made filming on Beverley Westwood more hazardous due to muddy and slippery conditions.