Final Digipak...

Front & Back Panels:

Inside Panels:

CD:

Feedback from Facebook:

Arfa uploaded photographs of the digipak onto the social networking website Facebook and she asked our potential target audience to answer the following questions:

1) Does the design of the digipak look indie?

2) What do you think of the pictures, font?

3) Is the digipak design visually appealing?

4) What do you like/dislike?

5) Any other comments?

Here was their response:

Construction of the Magazine Advert.. Take Three..

After creating the first draft and analysing the feedback that I recieved, I created two more versions of the magazine advert and asked people which one they prefered. The two adverts are insterted below:

Advert #1 (with a straight edge):

Advert #2 (with a torn paper edge):
Example of feedback from class members:

Jordan - "I like the one with the straight edge more than the one with torn edge".

Jemima - "I think the first one, with the straight edge, is better because it goes with the clean cut font and the style of the photograph of the band".

Miss Ferdinand - "The one with the torn edge adds a more antimainstream edge to the image and makes the band seem more Indie, but I think both of them work well".

_________________

Overall, my group and I found that the majority of the class preferred the magazine advertisement with the straight edge, because they thought that it went well with the 'clean cut' image of the band. Therefore, we decided to choose the advert with the straight edge because not only did it go with convention, but it was also what appealed most to our target audience.

Final magazine advert:

Construction of the Magazine Advert... Take Two...

First Draft of the Magazine Advert

(created by me on Adobe Photoshop CS5)

Feedback received on Facebook:

Analysis of feedback:

Overall, the feedback that my group and I received for my magazine advertisement is very encouraging, as most people had nothing but positive things to say. Out of the total number of people that gave us their feedback, quite a few people commented on the colour scheme and the font, saying that it was ‘good’, ‘effective’ and ‘recognisable’. This was really helpful because it proved that we had chosen the right font and colour scheme, as when conducting my research I found that bands like Oasis and The Enemy tend to use the same font over and over again on their media products so that they can create an easily recognisable brand image. Thus, by our potential target audience confirming that the font we had chosen was unique and recognisable it meant that we had succeeded in creating a brand identity for our band.

On the other hand, however, some people mentioned the fact that the ‘Q’ on the right hand side star rating was not quite centred. This constructive criticism was particularly good because it gave me something to change and improve upon when it came to me creating the second draft of our magazine advertisement.

Construction of the Magazine Advert...

As my group and I were happy with my initial plan for how I hoped the advert would look I decided to create a template of how the wording would be arranged on the advert. The template is inserted below:

This template is very similar to the plan that I came up with, as I stuck to the colour motif that we had chosen (blue, white and black) because it helps to create a connection between all three of the media products that my group and I are producing - the magazine advert, digipak and music video. I also included the reviews from prominent Indie magazines as these reviews would help to sell the album due to the fact that they are from well trusted sources. The shift towards new media technology, such as programmes like iTunes, has also been included, because it reflects our target audience's needs and desires as they largely download their music online rather than going out an buying a hard copy. Thus, by including the information about it being sold online we are trying to encourage people to download it online, via iTunes, as well as advertising the digipak, so that whatever our audience's preference they know that they can get our album in either format.

As a group we then went through all of the pictures that we had taken on the photoshoot and picked the photograph that we wanted to appear on both the magazine advert and the front flap of the digipak. However, in the image that we all thought was best one of the band members, Laurence, was pulling a funny face, so we decided to cut him out of the image and then place another picture of him into our favourite photograph.

This is the photograph that we all liked and the one that Laurence was pulling a strange face in:

This is the photograph that we took the image of Laurence from:

How I turned the pictures above into our magazine advert and digipak front cover:

After copying and pasting Laurence from one photograph to another, in Adobe Photoshop, I also boosted the colours in the image on iPhoto in order to make the photograph as eye catching as possible. Then, I cropped the image so that you couldn't see the trees on either side of the photograph and used the gradient tool on Photoshop to make the sky more blue. After this, I also used a tool called 'Content-Aware' on Photoshop to remove the lamp post above Laurence's head (the male on the left hand side) and remove the houses behind Anthony and Erick (the two males on the right) so that there would be absolutely no possible distractions when our target audience were looking at the magazine advert. I then carefully arranged the text that carried all the information neccessary, making sure that the colours I used went with colour motifs used in our music video (black, grey, white and blue) so as to create continuity between all of the media products my group and I have created. Lastly, after this I had to copy and paste the top of the image over and over again, as the orginal image was too short to fit into an A4 page in a magazine.

Planning for the Magazine Advertisement...

As well as editing the music video, I am creating the magazine advert whilst Arfa and Leon create the digipak. The research that I conducted earlier on in the year into Indie magazine adverts has helped me to decided what sort of things should be included in our advert for it to be appealing to our target audience, create a positive image of our band and ultimately sell the digipak. To make sure that I would apply my research effectively to the magazine advert I created a brainstorm of all of the things that I knew should definately appear in the advert. Please find my brainstorm inserted below:

(click to enlarge)

After creating this brainstorm the next task that I had to do was to come up with a plan/template of what I thought it should look like, so I drew my inital idea onto paper. Please find my plan of what the advert should look like inserted below:

(click to enlarge)

As my group and I were happy with what I had come up with we decided to stick to the basic template that I had produced and only possibly change the image that I had drawn as the background depending on how the photographs came out when we shot them.

Locations for Digipak and Magazine Advert...

As it is part of their planning for the photo shoot for the digipak, Arfa and Leon came up with and took pictures of various locations around and nearby school that struck them as being conventional to the indie genre and pleasing on the eye. As group we decided that choosing a location near school would be the best option for the photo shoot, as it would be easy for our band members to get there, so instead of spending time travelling to a location that was far away we could spend our time actually taking the photographs in order to get the best possible image.

After looking around the school, Arfa came up with two locations that she thought were quite indie and that she could envisage being on any of the panels of the digipak and the magazine advertisement.

Location #1:

This location was chosen by Arfa because of the metal railings along the side, as many bands, such as The Kooks, have taken photographs near or beside metal railings, so it has become kind of conventional to the Indie genre to take pictures in ‘urban’ areas. However, as a group we felt that the block of flats, cars and bicycles were distracting and took away from the full effect of the metal railings, so ultimately we decided against this location.

The Kooks walking by a metal railing

Location #2:

Arfa liked this location because of the log in the centre of the image, as she thought that a photograph of the band members sitting on the log playing their instruments would be quite indie based upon her research. However, as this location was on school grounds it would be difficult to make it our location for our photo shoot because there would be lots of children around playing at lunch, before school and sometimes after school. Furthermore, when evaluating all of the locations chosen as a group we thought that the writing on the fence would be distracting and we wanted the band to be the main focus of all of the photographs that we took, so in the end we ruled this location out because of the aforementioned reasons.

Leon, on the other hand, went to take photographs of locations from outside of our school. He went to the park and took some photographs locations within the park that he felt were conventional to the Indie genre.

Location #3:

These photographs were taken in different areas in the park. As a group we decided that, based upon these photographs, it would be a good idea to make this park our location for the photo shoot. This was largely because we felt that these locations highlighted the fact that our band was cool, fun and quirkly, as well as showing that they enjoy hanging out together. By going with the theme 'a day out in the park' it meant that we could invite our target audience into the world of the band, and the sorts of things that they do together when they aren't making music.

When conducting my research into Indie digipaks/album covers I found that some album covers, like The Kook's album artwork for 'Inside In Inside Out' deliberately invite their potential target audience the world of the band, because they took the image of the band from the drummer's perspective. This, then, gave their album a much more personal undertone, which would be appealing to their target audience. Therefore, the theme of our photo shoot and the location would, we believe, be conventional to the Indie genre and appealing to our potential target audience.

Costume for Photo Shoot...

In order to create a link between the music video, the magazine advert and the digipak we decided to create a colour motif between all three products - the colours that we chose were blue, black, grey and white. Thus, we asked the actors that we were using to play our band to wear these four colours for the photo shoot and wear clothing that was similar, but not the same, as what they wore when we were filming the music video.

Unlike if we were producing a music video for a real record label or band, we do not have a budget and we could therefore not afford to buy costumes for all of our actors. So instead Arfa sent out a mass email, via Facebook, in order to give our actors some idea of the clothes that we wanted them to wear:

However, some of our actors were a bit unsure of what she meant so she then clarified our costume choices further:

Below is a mood board, that I created, of the kind of look we were going for:

This conventional Indie type of clothing would be very appealing to our target audience, as it is reminiscent of the types of clothes that they would wear, or that their friends would wear. Moreover, it shows that our band, like our target audience, are just ordinary people that are fashion conscious and are proud to show that they are part of the Indie fashion subculture. It also creates a positive band image that would be attractive to our target audience, as the clothing above has connotations of fun, cool, effortless style and therefore, highlights that they are not a manufactured band that have been put together and over styled.

However, we understood that due to the cold weather conditions it would be unlikely that we would be able to get many shots of the band without their coats on, as it was simply too cold outside. So instead, we decided that we would take most of the photographs with their jackets/coats on and then ask them to take off their coats for about five minutes to try and get some shots of them wearing their v-neck tops etc.

Finished Music Video...

Anthony and I finished editing the music video and uploaded it onto YouTube. The final version is embedded below:

Feedback from YouTube:

Feedback from Facebook:

Analysis of Feedback:

Overall, the feedback that my group and I have received from, the social networking website, Facebook has been immensely positive, as we have consistently been given at least 8/10 for our music video. By using Facebook as a way to get feedback it was easy to make sure that we were getting feedback from the right audience demographic, as we could check to see if the people that were giving us feedback we of the right age group etc. However, as all of the people that my group and I have on our individual Facebook pages are people that we know and are friends with some of the feedback that we received could be classed as bias. This is why we also uploaded our music video onto YouTube, as via YouTube we could reach a world wide audience and get feedback from people that we don't know and that would, hopefully, not be classed as biased.

In terms of the actual feedback that we received I think that my group and I achieved what we wanted to. Quite a few people commented that it looked 'professional', both class members and people that gave us feedback online, which is ultimately, what we wanted to achieve, as it suggests that we followed the codes and conventions successfully enough for people to think that our A2 production looked like a 'professional' music video. This is also reinforced by the fact that all of the people that we asked successfully identified that it was indeed an Indie music video.

One person commented on the fact the shot at the end of Anthony picking up the scarf was a bit confusing, but despite this they successfully assumed that it was the lead singer. When Anthony and I were editing we were a bit unsure about the clarity of who it was that picked up the scarf and gave it to her but we wanted to create an enigma so that our target audience would have a reason to watch our video again and again.

We got a mixture of feedback about the editing, some people liked the lingering shots more the fast past cutting rhythm towards the end of the video, whereas others preferred the fast cutting pace more than the slow cuts at the beginning. However, most people identified the fact that the cutting rhythm had to speed up towards the end because of the change in dynamics as the song speeds up in tempo. This change in cutting rhythm as the song progresses was something that Anthony and I were keen to achieve because when conducting our research into existing Indie music videos we found that many other videos did the same, and it was also a technique that matched the dynamics of our song.

Construction...

After editing roughly a third of our music video we decided to upload what we had onto Youtube and Facebook so that we could get feedback on it and change bits according to what the feedback suggests. What we have so far is embedded below:

Here is the feedback that I received from Facebook:

Feedback from YouTube:

Feedback Analysis:

So far the feedback that we have received has been really positive so I think that we are definitely heading along the right lines for our music video. Everybody that we have shown it to in our media class has liked it too, so my group and I are quite pleased. The feedback also shows that it is quite clear that our audience are able to ascertain what the narrative is about, even after such a short clip of our video, for example, Louis noticed that the male was abusive. Also Scarlett's comment about making the lighting darker for the narrative has also been quite useful and is something that we are going to try to do because dark lighting has negative connotations and these negative connotations would be quite fitting for our domestic abuse narrative. Moreover, her feelings about the lead singer also suggest that we were right to use Anthony as our lead singer because he fits into the stereotypical Indie image and he has made our video popular amongst females (a large group of our potential target audience).

Work in Progress...

Here are some Photographs of my group and I doing work:

(In order to see the title of the picture scroll over the image)

Filming Report - Day Two...

Today, we filmed the narrative element of our music video at my house. We ended up filming for about half an hour extra than we had planned in order to shot from as many different angles as possible. However, we filmed all of the shots that we wanted so hopefully when editing we will have lots of different shots to chose from.

The photographs that we took whilst filming are embedded below (however, a lot of the photos that were taken came out blurry so this is only a small selection of the photographs that were taken):

(slideshow created by me (Hannah))