Final Digipak

Here is my final digipak:

Final Music Video

My final edit. I decided to change my video to black and white, the reason for this was because I wanted my digipak, magazine advert and music video to all complement each other and black and white is a theme they all now have in common.

Evaluation Q3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Evaluation Q2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Click the link below for the audio version of Q2.
Evaluation Q2 - Soundcloud

TRANSCRIPT:

The combination between my music video and my ancillary texts is extremely effective. A main theme that I decided to go by was black and white. All the texts I have created are in black and white. The reason I chose to do this is because it gives off quite a grungy vibe, while still looking appealing to the eye. Many music videos of the same genre to mine have incorporated a black and white theme, therefore I thought it would be a good idea to use it, in order to fit into that genre. Also, by making my texts black and white, they now compliment each other a lot better and look as if they are meant to be together.

My music video contains only performance from the band. This can relate to my magazine advert and my digipak, which both include pictures of the band. I've gone for a simple stripped down approach to my texts, which is what a lot of artists of my genre have done also. Rather than doing narratives or having random pictures of irrelevant things, I have focused on the band itself, which I believe has been really effective and gives the viewer of my texts exactly what they need and no more.

I also used mise en scene to help my texts to work well eachother. For example, the clothing that the band are wearing within my music video is very similar to the band picture on my magazine advert, and also pictures on my digipak panels. The effect this has is that the texts now look like they belong together, which is a good marketing technique.

By making all of my texts similar, they mutually benefit one another, and I believe that they would be able to market extremely effectively with one another in a synergic way.

Evaluation Q4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

There are many ways in which I used new media products in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stages. One of the media products I have have used throughout all of the stages of my portfolio is Blogger, I used this program to basically keep all my work organised and presented well. I have had experience with Blogger in the past so there was no hassle when it came to using it, .

Google was useful when it came to researching different genres in the research stages, and it helped me find out what genre my music video was going to fit into. It is extremely easy to use and it gets you results quick which is helpful. Another media technology I used, mostly in the research and planning stages was Youtube. I was already familiar with how to use it. Youtube came in handy when I needed to analyse music videos of the same genre to mine, in order to find the typical conventions of them. Not only that, I also used Youtube for the upload of my music video, as I needed a platform to have my video on in order to embed it into my blog. I was finding it difficult to select a track for my music video, which is when Youtube helped a lot. It had a number of suggested tracks along the side, so I just searched through them until I found the track that I thought would be great to use.

In the actual construction of my music video, I chose to use an SLR camera. The reason for this is because they produce professional looking high quality videos, which is what I needed for my video to look good. In order to stop the camera from shaking on the non-handheld shots, I used a tripod. By doing this the camera did not shake while recording, producing sturdy footage that was ready for editing.

Adobe Premiere Pro was the main program I used in the editing stages of my music video, as it was the software I used to edit my video together. Adobe Premiere Pro is a professional software that enables you to produce high quality videos without a lot of hassle. It wasn't the first time I had used Premiere Pro, so it was easy to get into the editing.

To create my digipak and magazine advert, I used Adobe Photoshop. I decided to use Photoshop as it is the most professional photo editing software that is used by professional photographers, therefore I knew it would produce good results if I used it right. I was unfamiliar with how to get around Photoshop at first, but after using Youtube to watch some tutorial videos I could navigate my way around Photoshop with ease, and it paid off as my digipak and magazine advert came out looking really good.

Audience Feedback - Digipak

I asked some people about what they thought of my digipak, and they gave me some feedback on the good points and points that could be improved. I was highly praised about the pictures used on each panel, they said they looked very artistic which I was happy about. Someone stated that one of the panels looked a different type of black and white to the others, however this can be easily mended within Photoshop. Overall, people were impressed by my digipak and I'm pleased that I don't have to change it too much.

Storyboard

As I have decided my music video is going to be fully performance based, a chronological storyboard would show a lot of the same shots in as it is not a narrative video where every shot is completely different. Therefore I have made my storyboard to show the different types of shots that I will include within my music video:

Digipak Mock Drawing

Here is a quick sketch of a digipak that I drew so I would have some idea of what pictures to have on each panel.

Audience Feedback - Magazine Advert

I got feedback from a number of people for my magazine advert on what was good about it and what needed improving. I was praised for the black and white theme I had used on my magazine advert, as it was appealing to the eye, it also corresponded well with my digipak, which also has a black and white theme. Someone said that I needed to change the top font to another font, as it looked a little too cartoon-like and not professional enough. Also, I was told the website name at the very bottom of the advert needed to be made more central within the grey box in order to make my advert even more appealing. Overall, people we're impressed with my magazine advert.

Audience Feedback - Music Video

I got feedback from my peers on what was good about the video and what should be changed. They said that the lighting in my video was well done, and they also liked the fact I had had a variety of shots within my video, making it more interesting to view. I also got some creative criticism back from the audience. They said that there were a few shots in my video that were a little too dark, although this can easily be fixed using Adobe Premiere Pro. Also, uploading the video to Youtube somehow did not fit the footage to the screen, this can be simply fixed however by changing the rendering of the video on Youtube. Someone also suggested that I should change the music video to black and white, this way it would fit perfectly with my digipak and magazine advert. I thought this was a great idea. Overall, feedback was good for my music video.

Draft Digipak Panels

Evaluation Q1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Target Audience Research

To gather my target audience research, I put together a questionnaire in order to gain sufficient knowledge about my target audience. Here were the results.

The first question I asked was how old are you? Two people were 12-15, three were 15-16, eight were 16-18 and two were 18-20.

I then asked what genre's that person listened to. Five people said rock, three said hip hop, two said pop and five said dance.

The next question I asked is whether they preferred narrative, performance or a mixture of both in music videos. Five people preferred narrative, four people performance and six people preferred a mixture of both.

How often do you watch music videos? This was the next question I asked. The answers were, eleven people said a lot, four people said a little and no one said never.

 When you hear the track (Red Hot Chili Peppers - Suck My Kiss) what emotions do you feel? This was the question I asked next. The answers I received were: happy, sad, energetic, upbeat, good and motivated.

The final question I asked was do you like a music video to relate to the song or not? Nine people said yes, six said no.

I have decided to aim my music video at people of the ages 15 to 25.

Research Analysis Task 2 - Digipaks

The first digipak I shall analysing is Rock The Kasbah by some various artists. The first thing that stands out to me about this digipak is the contrast of colours. On the outside of the digipak three main colours are used, black, white and red. These three colours go extremely nicely together and red font on the black and white background stands out nicely. This digipak features a track list on the back panel, a bar code and also a paragraph of thanks to whoever created the album. When you take a look at the inside panels, the colour scheme changes. The bold red writing is still kept the same on the inside panels, they also feature colour pictures of the various artists on the album therefore is in the centre. The middle panel shows a photograph of  a man who I presume is quite important to this album. The digipak obviously also includes the CD panel, which has a colourful blue and yellow backdrop behind it.

The second digipak that I'm analysing is Hand on String, which is the film and television score composer Michael Andrew's debut album. The colours seem to spring off the digipak at first glance, which is effective as it will catch the eye of buyers. The inside panels of the digipak feature two panels which have drawings of colourful houses of all shapes and sizes on them. The houses are drawn in such a way that it makes them look like they have eyes, personifying them and adding a bit of flare to this digipak. The final panel on the inside is the CD panel. Even the CD itself goes along with the bright colour scheme. The outside panels have the name of the album that has been constructed by putting different drawings of objects and shapes together, forming the album title. This gives of a quirky vibe to the album. Spread across the other two panels, is a drawing of a guitar and two arms holding onto the instrument's one string. This directly fits with the title, Hand on String. A bar code is featured in the bottom right of one of the panels, and the track listing is just beneath the neck of the guitar drawing.

Costume Planning

The costumes that the band will be dressed in are typical clothing for a band of this genre. They will wear typical rebellious teenage clothes for example t-shirts and ripped jeans. This type of clothing will fit the genre of my video nicely. The band will not be over dressed as it would not fit in the genre I'm doing.

Actor/performer decisions

Singer
I have decided to chose Liam as my singer as he is already in a band with myself so he will be extremely easy to work with. Also he fits the image of a singer and looks like he is in a band. Anther thing about Liam is that he has a lot of confidence, so will not be scared when faced with a camera.


Guitarist
The guitarist I have chosen is Tom because he is an extremely good guitar player so he will have no trouble playing the song I'm going to use for my video. He is also the guitarist in my band therefore will be easy to work with. Tom also fits the look of being in a band which will make my music video look a lot more professional.


Bassist
The bassist in the music video will be myself, as I play bass in a band. Although this will present a few dilemmas, for example how will i film myself while playing. The solution is I will have to use a tripod while the camera is filming me.


Drummer 
The drummer in the video, Jacs, will also be from my band. Like the others, he will be easy to work with and looks like he should be in a band.

Final Magazine Advert

Intentions for video

My whole video will be based on performance. It will be filmed in my band's usual practise area, this will make it easier for me as the drum kit we use is already there. The room will be made dark, and I will set up lighting, which will create a nice lighting to shoot in. I will film 5 takes of the whole song. One of the whole band, and then 4 individual takes of each band member. This will allow me to cut inbetween them and hopefully it will look really effective. I will shoot in a number of different shots including close ups, long shots, mid shots etc. This will make my video a lot more interesting to watch.

Email Permission

Brainstorming