Album cover

 So something else I did not mention in yesterday's post was that while taking pictures for a profile picture, she also asked if I would take one for her album cover, and now with all the plan changes it actually works out perfectly because I can use it for my digipak too. I edited the photos in Adobe Lightroom which I found to be a fairly easy program to use despite being not familar with it. I had a ton of fun playing with different looks. 

I was getting frustrated with some of them because I did not like the greenery and nature aesthetic that was so apparent in so many of the pictures, it did not seem super suiting to her, however with the time I have available I was not going to retake them so I did what I could with editing and many are going to show useful for the Instagram and etc. 

Here are some of my favorites from the pictures. 

We are pretty much set on using this as her album cover, she loves it, and i think it is very well suited, The pink lighting makes it super on brand since her name is Tired In Pink, and the dark background makes it fitting with the music style of being upbeat but more depressing contents.

As for the profile pic I am still deciding...

Anyways, more updates about the music video coming soon! 

Big change!

 So yesterday we took the pictures and it went super well, but I was talking with the artist about the social media posts and marketing her new album, and we both kind of talked about how it would be really cool to do a music video on one of the songs in the new album. I had not brought it up before because I just didn't know if her schedule for release ad my schedule for this project would line up, however, she told me her album is done and she would be more than happy to push the release so I can work on marketing and a music video. It is honestly just pure luck that it lined up with me doing this project on her but I could not be more excited.

Anyway, now I am sort of starting from scratch with the music video, but for the song I am now doing I have a ton of ideas. I can not really post it on here yet as its unreleased but it is a sort of different vibe. 

It has more guitar and softer sounds with less electronic music, it is much more pop but still with the sad girl indie theme just with a different vibe. 

Some of the lyrics include "Talk to me and I'll talk to you" and "Be real with me and I'll be real with you" but it also has a lot of instrumental. I am still working on this

what story to tell, but I have some really cool ideas for the instrumental parts of the song and the overall vibe. 

Here is some of the storyboarding I have been working on, please excuse my terrible drawing and handwriting, it makes sense to me LOL.

We are filming this Sunday so Ill update you with the rest of the plans tomorrow and Saturday!

Planning social media

So I really want to get started on my social media aspect. I just found out that the artist is releasing a new album so I definitely wanna incorporate some marketing for that into my postings. Later today I am meeting with her to take some pictures for a profile picture for the professional account I am setting up. She also asked if I could take a picture for her new album cover which is super exciting. I am also hoping there will be some leftover pictures that will work great for some Instagram posts.

I chose Instagram as my main social media platform because it is her most used platform and that of many of her target audience. Although TikTok can be a great platform for songs and music, it felt too mainstream for her music type and style. However, I am going to talk to her about some ideas with it and maybe we will create some TikTok's for marketing the music video to go along with the other marketing practices. 

Tiktok has been where hundreds of new and young artists have made their songs so popular so it is still something I am thinking about. 

Going to be putting some more research into this later this week so be on the lookout!

Some bad news.... but not world ending.

As I was looking over the planned schedule I posted a couple weeks ago, and comparing that to my Google calendar I realized a total oversight in my free time. I leave next Wednesday for a television production competition in Long Beach, California with Student Television Network and I won't be back until the 18th. Then on the 20th, I leave to see my family in England for spring break until the 30th. So I actually have much less time than I budgeted for. But all is well because I have a plan! 

I am going to try and film at least the majority of my music video this Sunday, meaning I need a storyboard and shot list ASAP. I'm so glad that the artists were free for this last-minute plan but I am hoping it all works out. 

I know I can get at least any outside shots that day, my concern is anything that is inside. I can not use my own house as my family is in the middle of packing it to move to Orlando and I am not sure of anywhere else. I think once I figure out what exactly I need to film, I am going to reach out to BECON-TV and ask to use the studio there after school before my flight that night on the 20th. This would allow me to play with lighting and film anything like that.

Busy busy busy and so many obstacles! But I am remaining optimistic and excited so I know it will all work out.

Mood Board

As I have been trying to rack my brain for a plan for the video I decided to try inspiring myself with creating a mood board. It really represents her and the vibe I am going for for the video and the correlated marketing. I shared it with the artist and she loves it which is perfect. I found it super helpful for organizing an idea and getting my brain going in one direction lol. Here it is.

I really wanted to go off the album cover with the flowery field vibes but also heavy RGB lighting and high saturation. I also wanted to focus on the sad girl aesthetic and the mental anguish theme that I want to pursue. The colored tiles show lyrics from the song, her artist name, song name etc. The middle image is her album cover and everything else is just sourced from online.

Group meetings

 Group meetings today! So we had group meetings today in class where we discussed our projects and gave feedback. It was really cool hearing about their projects and weighing in on their ideas. For my own project, I got some ideas on what to do for my music video that were super helpful.

They agreed with the ideas I already had and that the video should represent mental illness and anguish, but gave me some cooler ideas of how to do that too.

My friend Beatriz told me I should try something where my subject, the artist, is shown without much movement but the background behind her is changing and flashing at a high speed, to show the theme of life moving on and not being able to keep up. I though this was definitely something I could play around with, maybe using a green screen. 

Another idea thrown my way when I mentioned my contrasting ideas of heavy lightning and summery fields was to use both and have the contrast represent her mind, while the fields show how life is going on. I also loved this and definitely want to try it.

All in all group meeting was an awesome opportunity to both give and receive feedback!

Looking deeper at the lyrics

So i am really needing to plan out this idea for the video now so I decided to take a deeper look at her lyrics so I asked her to send them, here they are. 

 my best friends got this boyfriend and she's happy so I'm happy for her

my brothers moved out at 16

he's done the hard work

i still feel 14 in quarantine drinking alone i still feel 14

it's true i miss it not the drinking

but the drugs were so real

if i could go back id let it kill me

so i don't have to be here

think my dads dying he won't admit it

but he's on his way out

i'd be surprised if 10 years go by and he still is around

rehab changed me well not really

I'm still fucking insane

need some meds that fucking work

so i don't blow out my brains

every day it feels the same

it all blurs together now

i try so hard to stop the cycle

god i wish i knew how

alle gar videre    

og tiden gar for fort

jeg klarer ikke tolge med

translation:

everyone moves on

and time goes by too fast

I can't figure it out

So I'm thinking I really want to highlight the story she's telling but indirectly and not overtly. I want the message to be buried a little deeper. I am thinking I want to represent mental illness and just overall mental struggles that people who would relate to this song, and the target audience would relate to.

One idea I have that I think would be super cool, is showing a contrast from living her life to a representation of her mind to really touch on the main theme of life going by when you're not ready. Its still super up in the air so updates coming soon!