CCR

M.I.A. CCR

Portfolio Project A Level

Music Video

Website

https://ariannaashakibi.wixsite.com/rawbabyk

Digipak

 

reflection

I’ve definitely learned a lot in the process of making my portfolio project. Working on it by myself for the first time was something I was quite nervous to do but in the end I’m very happy that I did. I chose to do the music video promotion for my project. I needed to create a website, digipak, and of course the music video.

For my artist I was initially going to use another friend of mine but he had bailed at the last minute. Thankfully, Koree said he would let me use him as my artist which was really nice of him since we had just met and weren’t friends at the time. Koree is a rap artist who goes by the name “Rawbabyk”. He already has his music on apple music and youtube. I chose to promote his new album Heartbreaker. I went through all of the songs from that album and I liked his song M.I.A. the best and he wanted to do a music video to that song as well. I knew that I wanted the music video to be more about that rapper lifestyle with their cars and possessions since that’s how Koree was already portraying himself as. I really wanted this music video to represent the brand he has for himself already since he’s more established with his music.

The next week we decided to go film at his house. I had the idea to film with two cameras instead of one so I can get two angles throughout the music video. One camera was going to be on my ronin (camera stabilizer) and the other one would be hand held and could get more close ups. My friend and I went to Koree’s house and filmed in a few locations around his house such as the pool and basketball court. It was a lot of fun and he had his friends there to be in the background of the music video. While we were filming I also got some pictures of him and his friends. After that was over I knew I wanted to film at Wynwood for my second location so I could get some more shots of him and the city. Unfortunately at this point, schools started to close down because of the corona virus. The corona virus heavily impacted everyone's project. However, we were still going to get this video done. I went through all of my footage and I did have a lot, so I was very fortunate to be able to just go and edit with the footage I already had.

Editing is my favorite part of creating content. When I grow up I would really like to specialize in editing. Editing is something I already have a lot of experience in. The software I use to edit my music video is called After Effects. I’ve been using After Effects for years so I’m already very comfortable with the software. I was editing in the span of two weeks. I would work on it for a few days one week and then work on it more the next week. Editing the music video was definitely a long process for me since I tend to be very critical of what I make and I just always want it to look perfect. I also had two angles of every scene and I had about four or five different locations around his house filmed, so syncing the videos with the song was kind of annoying. I really like to incorporate cool effects to get the viewers attention. My timeline on my software was super messy. I had over 200 layers. After I finished editing the music video I could now focus on my website and digipak.

I did have photos I could choose from since I took some pictures during the day of shooting. For my digipak I edited the photos on after effects and used the site canva to put all my photos together. When creating my digipak I wanted it to be more red themed since his album name is called “Heart Breaker” and I associate that word with the color red. I was able to use photoshop to change his neon green clothing to red. For the font of the text on the digipak I used a really bolded font. I could not find the font he originally had for the cover of his album so I went with the bold font. I had to edit the digipak several times. I moved around some photos and changed the placement of texts a few times before I finally got the look I wanted.

To create the website I used Wix. I wasn’t the most familiar with making a website but Wix was very easy to use. For his website I included a home page which contains his song, music video, contact, and an ‘about rawbabyk’ section. I then added three more pages which included the merchandise, showtimes, and a behind the scenes from filming the music video. For the merchandise I had originally wanted to use the shirts he had already created for his album but since the font that was on that shirt didn’t match the font I used on my digipak, I had to create my own shirts with the bolded font I had been using to keep the brand consistent. For the show times I just added in cities from Florida since that’s where he lives. Lastly, for the behind the scenes I added photos I took from the day I filmed.


Overall I am very happy with how everything turned out. I really tried my best and Koree also loves how the music video turned out. This project really helped me get out of my comfort zone.

Finishing up website

I just finished added the last few touches to my wesbite. I changed the cover photo on the home page to a photo of him wearing red instead of the neon green since the digipak had him wearing red. I also edited the show times sections and changed the locations to cities around Florida since that's where Koree lives.

I am finally done with everything and I'm very happy about it. I've come along way and I think everything looks really good.

Website improvements

I've been making some improvements on my website. For the home page I fixed the layout so my new picture could fit. I changed the photo to just a photo of him. Before I had it of him and his friends but it's better if the first thing you see is the artist himself. I then changed the background from white to these dark moving clouds that are more appealing. White was too bland

 I just made the sections under it  dark grey since it looks better than white. On the search bar I made it so that if you hover over the "home" the other sections such as music,video,about, and contact come up.

 For the "upcoming shows" tab I changed the background to the dark clouds. I did want to change the text to add locations in Florida but there is no option to do that. I've researched how to do it but there doesn't seem to be an option to change it unless you go to this other site and actually connect your artist on to there and create real show times which I can't do. I'm going to leave it like this for now.

 On my last tab I made a gallery page that consists of behind the scene photos from the music video shoot. I also changed the background from white to the dark clouds. 

That's my whole website and I think it looks pretty good.

merchandise editing

I had to change my merchandise because the font on the names of the original merchandise was different than the fonts I had been using throughout my digipak. I needed all the fonts to be the same so everything within the brand would remain consistent. I did try and ask Koree before what font his merchandise had and he said he didn't know and that he had found a png of the word "heartbreaker" and used that on his shirts. So i decided that I had to change the merchandise all together to add the bold font I've been using. I used Custom Ink to create my new merchandise. I still used Koree's design but the font is different and the heart is slightly different as well. I used all the same colors of his original shirts 

This is what the original shirts looked like. Both sets of these shirts are similar. I didn't want to make complete changes because I liked his design so all I really did was change the font to match the font I had been using throughout my project.

final digipack

I think I've finally finished my digipak. I changed the most of it. So for the first picture I changed the photo and the placement of the text. Before the work "breaker" was intertwined behind objects which made it hard to read and so here I placed it on the side with nothing over it so you can clearly see all the words. I changed the CD picture to the picture I had originally had for my cover and added who produced his music onto the CD. I decided that I didn't want to add any text to the second picture since it was a really nice close up so I added the information on who produced his music on the CD photo. Then finally I kept the last photo the same but changed the font of the text because I wanted everything to have the same font. 

Below is my final Digipak

more website editing

I began to edit his website a little more. I created his "about you" section that explains where Koree is from, how he got into rapping, and how hes confident in pursuing a career in the music industry. The 'for you' page is a great way where fans can go and find out more about who Koree is

the text on the website is quite small so I need to figure out how to fix that but this is what I have for that section 

I also uploaded the music video and I created a thumbnail for it to make it look more professional and more appealing. 

I kind of want to reorganize the website or just try and make it more appealing. I'm really new to making websites so I'm not the best at using them. I also was thinking about making a gallery tab and just use pictures that I took on the night of filming. After that I think I should be done with the website. I have added the merchandise, 'for you' section, contacts such as emails and phone numbers, the song, the music video, and tour dates section. I think I'm also going to add the digipak into it. Overall I think I almost done with the whole website

more digipak editing

My focus is now all on my digipak and website since I finished the music video. I started to create the interior

I'm thinking about using these two pictures as the interior

As I was going through actual CDs, not all of them have any writing in the interior. They only have the title on the cover and the songs on the back.

Here are some interiors of other CD packages.

So I think I want to do that same route as well of just putting the only text in the cover and in the back. I really want to use that close up of his face in the interior and I feel like any text over that picture would be distracting. I think if I were to put any text over it , it would just be a quote from his song like "I'm going M.I.A."

I'm also thinking about changing the back of the CD to this picture.

instead of this 

I just think the first one has a lot more room for text so it'll look nicer. 

DONE EDITING

Hi it's 5 am and i'm officially done editing my music video. I had been working on it for weeks and even though I couldn't get all the footage I wanted, I gave it my very best and I'm really proud with how it turned out. I texted Koree even though it was super late and he answered. I sent him the music video and he LOVED it.
 

He told me was watching it for 30 minutes straight. I ended with over 200 layers on my timeline and my software crashed maybe 3-5 times but in the end it still came out good. A lot of the music video is Koree and his friends dancing/ signing along to his song. I did not have the capability to get more B-roll because of the corona virus which sucked but I had to deal with what I had. I added some cool effects throughout the music video to keep it engaging. I don't like to just cut clips and leave it that way, it just seems bland with no effects added. I know that there are so many things that could've been improved on like the lack of footage and such but I know i did my best with the situation I was in. Of course I'm the hardest critic when it comes to my editing, I always feel like I could've done something better but Koree LOVES the video so that's really what I care about at the end of the day, if the person is happy with what I made for them. Anyway I'm super super happy that I'm done with the biggest part of this project. I can now relax a little and focus on finishing up the website and digipak.

Editing !

Editing is my favorite part as I said multiple times on this blog! Just a reminder of what I'm using, it's a software called after effects which is my favorite software to use. I can do so much to my footage. I've been using this software for years ! So I have a lot of experience with it. I really like to get creative with different overlays and effects. I'll edit in a span of days. I'll range from editing for 45 minutes to 3 hours in one sitting. A lot of the time i might just repeatedly watch what I've edited on loop and I'll just keep staring at what I have, thinking about if it looks good or not or if I can make something look better. I tend to be very hard on myself when I edit because I just always want my product to come out the best it can be.

This is a little bit of what I have. I added some effects,overlays, some text. I really enjoy being creative because I just feel like it can really pull in the viewer's attention. I would've really liked some more B-roll but because of everything that is happening with the virus and being quarantined, I am not able to get more footage so I'm using what I have. I really don't think this looks bad and I'm happy with how it's turning out. I've been working super hard on it and even though there are some things that I don't like about it, Koree really likes what I have so far and I'm really happy about that. I just really want Koree to be content with the final product. So far I have 2 minutes of the music video edited and I have 1 minute and 30 more seconds to go. I should only need one more day to finish up the music video and maybe I'll have to go back and fix anything if need be. But honestly I've been putting an immense amount of work into this and I have over 100 layers on my time line and it's also really messy because I had to align all the layers and I just have to make sure everything looks right. It's a lot of work to edit this but at least it's what I love. 

Website ideas

I asked Koree if he could tell me about his music and how he started and such because I was thinking about adding an "about RAWBABYK" section in the website so that people could know where he came from. He told me a lot about himself and I'll add the messages here.

I'm going to use all this information to create a section about him and put a picture of him on the side of the paragraph. This will allow his audience to know more about him as a person. People will be able to know how he got started and why he was interested in making music in the first place. I think it's always really good to know more about artists personal lives and how they came to make their music. By knowing more about an artist it allows the audience to potentially feel more connected to them and maybe relate to them in a way.

Digipak editing part 2

I got some feedback from Mrs.Stoklosa and she said she liked the photo of Koree on the ATV for the back of the digipak instead of the picture of the close up of his face so I'll be using the other photo instead.

She said she liked this photo the best for the cover 

But I can't use it because when I put it into the digipak template on canva, it looks really bad.

The picture just won't fit.

She did mention she liked the other option too but that she didn't like how the words intertwined. I did like the text the way I made it just because I thought it looked less bland but I guess I can just use that picture and just add the text normally. I'll start working on the interior soon, I just really wanted to get the exterior done first. I'm getting everything done on time and I honestly might be done before the due date. Editing the music video is the one thing that takes the most time in my opinion.

These are all the photos that I'm choosing out of for the digipak

Not sure which pictures are going where mostly for the interior but I'm going to be using these photos.

Digipak decision

Okay so I was staring at the pictures and I think I want to go with option 1.

I had to edit one more song in that I forgot to add but honestly I think I like this more. This is a super short blog I just wanted to post about how I wanted to go with this one instead of the other option. I just really like the close up and and the quality of this photo I think it looks super cool 

Digipak exterior

I just made the back of the Digipak.

Option #1

I believe this looks accurate? I just added the rest of the songs in the album and added a bar code with some text that you'd usually see in a CD package. In this picture I also edited the color and it looks a lot more contrasted and sharper which is the style I'm going for. I wanted to add this kind of scribble font because I just think it matches to vibe of everything. I wasn't sure if I should place the list of songs on the side so it's out of his face or in the center. I looked up some examples of digipaks and decided to place it in the middle

Here's the unedited version. 

Option #2

I also made a second option for the back of the package. I really like this picture alone like without anything on it but I also kind of like it as the exterior for the package. I initially wanted to use this as the cover but I was having trouble with fitting the text the way I wanted to. 

Website editing

I've been working on creating the website. So war I've added some pictures, and a few tabs. I also added his song and album. I created a merchandise tab which I think I did it right? I'm not sure because I just used a gallery tab and changed the name to merchandise to just put the shirts on display. I still need to add a small description about him and the final music video. Here's some pictures of the website so far.

I did add a tour dates tab but I'm not sure if I keep the fake tour dates on there or change it to "no tour dates available". I did try changing it to "no tour dates available" but I could not figure out how to do that . This is my first time using Wix so I'm still learning.

Digipak editing

I've been trying to edit the cover photo of the digipak for about over an hour now. The only reason I've been spending so much time on one photo is because I'm trying to place the text a certain way but since the composition of the digipak is a square, the text placement keeps looking weird. Here are the first photos I was editing.

So in this picture I just added some text of the album name

In here I added a color filter which really makes him pop out more and then I added a glow effect on the text and I masked his head so I could put the text "breaker" behind it. However, this did not end up looking right in the square composition because the text was so high up so I decided to just change the whole cover picture. 

I ended up using this picture. I again masked his body and I actually think the "breaker" text looks really cool since it's actually intertwining through his body. I then added the glow effect on the text and the color filter again. I put it on to the square composition in canva and it looks good. So I will be using this picture for the cover. As of right now I like how this looks but we'll see, maybe I'll change it. 

Website

I just started on the website. I haven't done too much yet. I've just picked the layout, added his name and social media. I haven't been able to add any pictures since I'm not done editing the ones I have and I also haven't gotten more pictures yet. I was also initially going to create a whole functioning section on the website to actually be able to sell the merchandise he made already but I talked to Mrs.Stoklosa about it and I think it's best I don't actually create the shop since he would have to purchase a domain and I also don't know if he'd be ready to supply that many shirts to so many people.

This corona virus has been kind of making me struggle with my project. Koree said that his parents don't want him to go out much because of everything that's happening so I guess I have to take pictures at his house which kind of sucks because not only can I not go to Wynwood but I'm not even sure if he'll come with us to some place closer. This is also because of his broken ankle, he doesn't seem to want to go to any different places to shoot since he isn't feeling well at the moment. So I'm going to wait another week possibly to take the pictures.

Problem!

I've kind of run into a big problem ): Koree, the artist I'm doing my music video on just recently broke his ankle which means I can't film him at Miami like I wanted to. I can't really film him at all since he'd be on crutches. So this absolutely sucks. I had also wanted to take some photos too but I don't even know if that's going to happen anymore.

 The good news is, I got so much good footage from that night that I think I'm fine with making the music video. I did get a ton of pictures as well but I'm just worried because I wanted more variety for my digipak and website. I think what I'm going to do is just go ahead and finish the music video. I'm going to finish setting up the website and finish editing all the photos and just use the photos I have from that night. The photos are still going to look good with all the text and titles, I just wanted more variety. I'm going to finish everything in the next two weeks and maybe by then, Koree will be have healed a little and will be up to just taking some photos. I won't even have to go far, I'll just see what other types of photos I can get. If not, I'll just have to make do with the photos I have 

Location planning

I'm planning on filming in Miami one of the days next week. I did want to film on Tuesday but I have work at around the same time I wanted to go so I'll either go on Monday after school or just another day during the week. I'm thinking of filming at Wynwood so I can use some cool art in the background.

      


This wall looks really cool and I think I could get some good shots here. I also wanted to get some shots of him just in the city around buildings. Taking photos around the buildings will portray the sharp look I'm going for.

I was also thinking about what color he could wear because I didn't want him to wear anything light like blues or yellows. I was thinking he could maybe wear black or white. It just depends on where i'm taking photo at so maybe he can bring multiple options. This will also be the last location we film the music video at. Overall I'm super excited to finish with the filming and the photos so I can get to editing everything and putting all the photos on the website. I'm very happy with how smoothly everything is going!