My last blog!

I can't believe my two years of blogging has now come to an end! I have enjoyed most of the challenges through my time in media which blogger has allowed me to share. I will be miss working with my reliable group members! I do wish more subjects would allow blogging rather than essay writing! Blogger, we have had some good (and bad) memories! Now I bid you adieu!!

Natalie x

Evaluation: Question 4 (part 2)

Here are the views of my fellow media peers & my teacher Rebecca:

Shannon:


Isla:


Ada:


Poppy:



Stephanie:



Evie:


My teacher Rebecca:


Overall, I am happy with the comments on our music video. All are very positive. I have learnt not to give up when completing a task, if you push yourself then you can produce something to be proud of! Thank you for all your positve comments!

Evaluation: Question 4 (part 1)

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience reaction

During the screening of all our music videos, I recorded my group video while it played. As our video was the first to be played, I didn't get the beginning. This also includes the audience's reaction during and after it played. So here it is:

Audience feedback from fellow media students:

• Claire Elsby:

My video: "I really enjoy the use of text in the video, I think it was really good at keeping the audience really engaged and also it put emphasis on certain parts of the song. I think the location is so great as well as it matches the mood of the lead singer and pop-y feel to the song with the seaside and the sunny weather. But I did think it was a little repetitive and seemed to just involve shots of the lead singer, so if you were to improve on anything I'd say more location shots of the general area."

My ancillary: "I really like the colour scheme you used it really works well together and the simple font sticks to the conventions, you have followed all of them! The comments you made by various newspapers sounded realistic too & the photo on the back of the digipak linked completely to the video, the colours in the image also match the same kind of tones in the rest of the ancillary work which is nice. It is also the same outfit and artist as in the video, as well as having the pebbly beach photo on the inside which links back to your video clearly. The one thing I would say is it's a little plain and this plain-ness makes it slightly unattractive as a buyer, maybe if you used a larger font size for the album name and artist name on the front of the digipak it would have a little less peach coloured space, I really like the advert as well but it looks a little too square on to be real, but that's consistent throughout it so I doubt it will be a problem."

• Charlene Moore:

My video: "I really like the use of location, they were unique and you chose angles to illustrate this. The song matches the mise-en-scene with the kind of pop genre, the light colours and fun setting. Also your use of base tracks made the video interesting as you changed the scene often, which keeps the viewers interested."

My ancillary: "I like the use of the name on the CD as it keeps the house style throughout all panels and the back panel shows personality with another image. The small use of colours works in your favour as it is not 'busy' but still effective; your layout on this panel is particularly effective. I really like the advert! The use of colours complements the genre. You have followed conventions with the HMV logos and reviews, the fact that it is simple keeps the focus on the purpose of the advert: to promote the artist. The CD front cover is a little simple, maybe you could have taken an image where the singer is in Brighton so it has a more interesting background."

Other comments from friends and family were similar. Many said that it was a little too plain but it matched the genre of the song.

Evaluation: Question 3

Click here to view our animatic that we produced by taking pictures of a miniature model in front images from Google Maps, which we then edited on Final Cut Pro. Enjoy!

Evaluation: Question 2

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

During filming, I made sure many pictures were taken during filming. This would allow us to have a selection of images to choose from that had a direct link to the video as the images were taken in the same location and our artist would be wearing the same outfit. At the beginning, I wanted an image of our artist on the beach on the cover. I had to change my original idea as most of those images were either not close enough or had no eye contact. Instead, I chose an image from the test shot. In this shot, our would be artist (as the shots were taken before we started filming) was wearing an outfit consisting of brown (similar to the music video outfit) which I felt matched our genre and my colour scheme.

Test shot image | Filming image 

The image I chose for my back panel is from the filming photos. I wanted a clearer shot of her whole outfit to be placed next to my track listing which also matched my background colour.



For the inside panel, I chose the image with 'CC' imprinted on the sand to accompany my song descriptions. I like this image because it relates to the setting and artist without either of them being in the picture.



As for my advertisement, I chose a pebble like background image as I felt it related well to the beach setting. I felt that a picture with visible texture would be better than a plain one of the same colour as that would be too plain.

I think that through my ancillary work, I have shown that our artist is a serious songwriter that is all about the meaning in the voice and lyrics rather than about the image. Our music video doesn't consist of much heavy edits as we wanted to keep it simplistic. The same goes for my ancillary design's.

Due to the points that I have made, I think that the public will recognise the relations between both the ancillary and video straight away. I think that my ancillary along with the music video can sell because like I have mentioned before, our artist is all about the music. Therefore no matter how plain the design ism she would still sell simply because she produces good music thus attracts our target market. However, if I was to promote our artist with the ancillary alone or of a pop genre (occasionally more about image), it would not be successful as my design is too plain for the genre.

Evaluation: Question 1 (part 2)

Influential music videos

After we were certain about our location, a carousel scene & some sort of text for our music video, I researched some videos on YouTube. While researching, I came across a carousel setting in 'Forgive Me' music video by 'Leona Lewis'. As we wanted to film on the carousel while it was moving, Leona Lewis' video completely relates to this. Moreover, this goes against typical conventions of music videos:

Below are clips from our music video with text:

The texts from below were influenced by the following videos that I also came across while researching. However, they required more advanced programs to produce the text so we opted for a simple format that was not only easier to achieve, but it suited our indie pop genre. The bold, bright coloured text used in Kanye West & Cher Lloyd's suited the upbeat tempo of their song. Although, I'd have liked to try to create that level of text, I am happy with the end result of ours. Finally, I think that the use of text in music videos has become more conventional in the past few years.

Good Life by Kanye West

Hey, Soul Sister by Train

Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall by Coldplay

Swagger Jagger by Cher Lloyd

Evaluation: Question 1 (part 1)

Above are pictures that I have taken of my own albums & digipaks which influenced my choice (mainly the Lady Gaga album) to add song descriptions to my digipak. This allows the fans to find out more about the new artist. Most albums include this in the information booklet. It is important to use a fair amount of close ups in the video and most importantly in the digipak cover. This along song descriptions and bonus content (on back panel) helps the public to familiarise with the new artist, involving the fans. The following pictures include (in order of appearance):

• My own digipak with song descriptions
• Lady Gaga: The Fame album
• Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad album
• Justin Timberlake: Sexyback single digipak
• Girls Aloud: Tangled Up album
• Dannii Minogue: The Hits & Beyond album

Some of my digipak ideas were influenced by Adele's album 21. It is conventional to use a large image of the artist with their name written clearly below. I liked the simplistic design that Adele has gone for as it shows that she is more about the music & voice rather than her image. This is the kind of design that I was thriving for. However, I felt that her chosen colours are dark & depressing which matched her emotional song lyrics. I wanted to aim for a happy but neutral design that matched our music video.

Adele: 21 album | My digipak

Some of my advertisement ideas were influenced by Ellie Goulding's Lights album ad. I was sure that I wanted media reviews & a simple design. Ellie's ad consist of both of these. I feel that Ellie Goulding is quite similar to our artist Charlotte Cole due to the genre therefore that is why I used some aspects from her ad. I like the fact that there's a large image of the artist with her name written bold & clearly. I added all typical conventions on my ad such as website of artist, social networking sites, QR code, record label logo, release date etc. However, unlike Ellie's ad, I wanted a picture of my digipak on my ad.

Ellie Goulding: Lights advertisement | My advertisement

Changes to my digipak cover

Although I have already finished my ancillary work on Monday, there were changes I had made to the original ideas:

• At the beginning, I wanted to choose a close up of our artist on the beach as it would fit with my colour scheme perfectly. However, out of the numerous photos we had, none of them were close enough. There was a specific photo that I really like but she wasn't staring into the camera, just staring at the sand. I could imagine my digipak with that very photo. It would follow my colour scheme, fit well with the genre and look conventional but none of this would work due to the fact that there was no eye contact.
• As I couldn't find the right picture for the cover, I tested several pictures. Some would require a new colour scheme and others just didn't fit. Instead, I tried fitting an image taken as a test shot before we started filming with an image of Brighton beach. I cut out the background around Hanifah (our artist) pasting it onto the picture of the beach. Straightaway, Tony said both didn't fit and that he could tell that I had cut her out.
• In the end, I decided to have a close up of Hanifah with just a plain background as Tony had said that using picture of the beach may have too much connection towards our music video.
• As I was unsure how to use my chosen image (of test shot) on the cover, Konrad suggested that I could create a coloured band of a similar colour below the image. This would cover up where the image ends and also where I could place the artist name and album onto. I tested this idea and was finally pleased with the end result. It was simple which is just perfect for the genre. I also added a shadow (also suggested by Konrad) for the main image to add more detail.
• After seeing my new  idea, Rebecca said that she thought my beige band was too big and suggested that I could decrease its size and enlarge the main image. I took her advice and tested it out. I felt that this worked even better than before. This allowed more focus on the image of the artist. After all the troubles that I had had, I felt pleased that I had finished my digipak cover.

My finished digipak cover

Production: Final advertisement

Production: Final digipak

Production: editing ancillary process

Below are screen shots of me editing my ancillary work. It shows how I have progressed & changed my ideas throughout. Enjoy!

Planning: ideas for ancillary

Coming up with ideas for ancillary were tough as the design must sell our artist, relate to the artist and relate to our music video. I find the genre of indie pop much harder to produce ideas than pop since indie pop designs usually require neutral colours compared to the bright colours used in pop genres. During my research on other albums and digipaks, I found that majority of them used a large image of the artist on the front cover with a simple back panel in a colour matching the front. This is the design I am aiming for as it is simple but effective. Due to the fact our artist is serious about her music, I want the digipak to reveal this through the design to show that she is all about the unique voice. Additionally, the font will also be fairly simple. At first, I wanted the image with 'CCx' imprinted on the sand for the CD housing but later decided to use the image on the opposite inner panel behind written details for each song.

Colour scheme: tan/brown & white for text
Tracks: same tracks from VV Brown's album
Artist name: Charlotte Cole
Digipak name: L.O.V.E
Font: Gill Sans MT (bold for artist name)
Number of panels: 4

*Pictures to be added*

Planning: potential fonts

18 different fonts from www.dafont.com

Planning: do's and don'ts of design

Do:

• Use clear readable font, preferably not fancy
• Use appropriate sizes for images and font
• Use clear photos that are in focus, no screen shots from video
• Use photos that are an appropriate shape for the page
• Use a layout that follows the rule of thirds
• Use an appropriate type face that follows genre conventions and house style
• Be careful where you place the font, it must follow conventions and clear from a distance
• Follow the conventions of the three colour rule and uses colour that is appropriate for images, font and background
• Think carefully about how you use and integrate font, image, text and language; specific placement embeds meanings
• Use appropriate industry logos and conventions making sure they're properly positioned

Rule of thirds

Don't:

• Stretch images, this will make them out of focus and pixelated
• Use layer styles
• Use necessary effects that suit the genre
• Place text across the artist's face
• Use a font simply because it suits your liking
• Use a separate photo on every panel, be creative

Pixelated image

Planning: mock-up of advertisement

My mock-up is clearly uncompleted due to the large blank spaces. This is because I struggled to come up with ideas for my advertisement. At the moment, I am focusing on my digipak then my advertisement ideas will become clear. Other than the essential items needed (i.e. image of digipak, release date etc.), the only ideas that I am sure of are the font and the critics reviews.

Planning: mock-up of digipak

PLANNING: Additional Photos

On todays lesson we started to do our digipak in Adobe Photoshop Elements however we realised that we don't have enough images of the artist, close ups and mid-shots in particular. We have decided to take some more pictures in the room with the green screen so it's easier to edit. The lighting in that room is also much better. We will take the pictures during lunchtime and then add them to this post.

Below, are a few pictures that Max took during the "photo shoot"...

Planning: potential photos for ancillary

Research: ancillary ideas

Above are photos of I have taken of albums and digipaks that I have at home. I was specifically looking for inspiration for my own digipak. Since planning my ancillary ideas, I have had vague ideas of the back panel and inside panel. I want to create a list of song details on the inside panel inside of just a photo alone. My teacher Tony liked the idea as it is conventional but I was the only person who wanted to create this in the class. I first got this idea from the booklet of my Lady Gaga: The Fame album. I am always curious about the writers and producers when it comes to songs that I like. I feel that artists who have a part in both those areas are more likely to have this song details within their album i.e. Lady Gaga, Dannii Minogue (shown above). Our artist Charlotte Cole, is a serious singer songwriter who is all about the voice rather than the image, therefore having descriptions/details of each song in my digipak will not only let her fans know more about her but also show that she is serious about her music.

From the photos, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears' album are digipaks. Justin's consists of four panels whereas Britney's consists of six. Both have very different designs as both are of different genres. Justin's digipak is a simple design as it only contains four tracks of the same song: one is the original track, the three others are remixes. Britney goes for a more eye catching metallic design as her digipak is of all her greatest hits and therefore consisting of more information, pictures and bonus features for fans who buy it will feel closer to the artist, act as a collectable. I took pictures of the inside panels from both purely because I like the designs.

Most of the photos I took were of the back panels and song details within the album booklet. The majority of those I took consisted of a main picture of the artist(s) on the cover and a simple, plain design (one colour background related to the front and track listing) for the back panel. This is the design I am aiming for on my digipak. The only difference is that I will have my song details on the inside panel adjacent to the CD housing instead of a booket.
The other photos I have taken were chosen because I felt that they suited to the artist and genre. I may not use all the design ideas for my own but may use or adapt certain, specific ideas e.g. the graphics, the way the pictures are taken, formation of the back panel etc.
Finally, the photos I have used are of (in order of appearance):

• Justin Timberlake: Sexyback - inside panel
• Lady Gaga: The Fame - back panel and song details from booklet
• The Wanted album - back panel and photos from booklet
• Girls Aloud: Tangled Up - back panel and credits from booklet
• Rihanna: Good Girl Gone Bad - song details from booklet
• Britney Spears Greatest Hits: My Perogative - pictures from inside panel
• Madonna: Celebration - front and back panel 
• Dannii Minogue: The Hits & Beyond - back panel and song details from booklet

Note: Sorry about the dark shadows of me seen in some of the photos

Planning: analysis of three digipaks

Below I have analysised three album's of different artists within the same genre:

*more pictures to be added