Sunday, 3 April 2011
Evaluation: What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Whilst publishing my music video, as seen in a previous post, I constructed a deep analysis into what my target audience felt about the creation as a whole and its different elements, portrayed in a Powerpoint presentation. These questionnaire results and the commencing analysis help to directly address the evaluating question so I shall post the presentation once more.
questionnaire results
Constructing this questionnaire was very valuable for me. Whilst I also posted my music video link onto Facebook, the above results are more reliable in the sense that the answers come from those who would be the target audience and main consumer of my product, rather than looking in from a more skeptical eye. There is also no form of bias in that the Facebook link was commented on by my own friends.
However, they still offer me a lot of valid opinions and watches, due to the fact that my video received 7 likes and 9 comments.
All of the comments had something positive to say about my music video and I was very happy with the responses. People liked the running theme of the hearts disappearing so therefore my televised bard theme was received well by my audience. They also noted that the narrative/storyline of the song and the visuals that went with this were very clear and effective, showing that they understand and appreciate the use of the lyric and visual link convention.
In relation to what improvements could be made one person pointed out that the actors were happy in the fight scene, unfortunate for the feeling but showing that fun was had during the filming as a plus point. There was also a comment about personally not liking the added glint in the eye of the female character, however they understood that this was a matter of personal preference and why I included it for establishing the more cheesy feel.
Whilst appearing on YouTube, my video has had some interaction. YouTube has 490 million unique users worldwide per month, who make for an estimated 92 billion page views each month so I had to try and get my video out into the wider environment. It is difficult to get any kind of publicity on YouTube however so data can be slow to collate.
Since its upload on the 14th March, my video has received 156 views, 3 likes and 1 dislike. I am pleased with this figure due to the short amount of time my music video has been active. In terms of finding out who liked and disliked my video, it is difficult due to the mystery of what demographics are included yet it does offer me a unbiased view as they are not Facebook friends like my other link. Additionally, I do not know if my target audience viewed the video so there is no way to tell who disliked; this is why I created the questionnaire to target my intended audience and really get a feel of how they felt about my product.
Overall, reviews and audience feedback has been generally positive from all the parties that I have asked. In terms of my ancillary products, I asked for some kind of feedback from my peers and they noted the fact that the print publications linked back successfully to my music video and liked the idea of taking the hearts as the main theme rather than just the artist for my magazine advertisement. This was also highlighted in my target audience questionnaire as a feature they wanted to see so I am glad that this was recognised and appreciated by a wider audience.
My feedback has offered me some ideas for how to improve my products if I was to do this project again as highlighted by constructive criticism but I am generally pleased with responses received about my work.
questionnaire results
Constructing this questionnaire was very valuable for me. Whilst I also posted my music video link onto Facebook, the above results are more reliable in the sense that the answers come from those who would be the target audience and main consumer of my product, rather than looking in from a more skeptical eye. There is also no form of bias in that the Facebook link was commented on by my own friends.
However, they still offer me a lot of valid opinions and watches, due to the fact that my video received 7 likes and 9 comments.
All of the comments had something positive to say about my music video and I was very happy with the responses. People liked the running theme of the hearts disappearing so therefore my televised bard theme was received well by my audience. They also noted that the narrative/storyline of the song and the visuals that went with this were very clear and effective, showing that they understand and appreciate the use of the lyric and visual link convention.In relation to what improvements could be made one person pointed out that the actors were happy in the fight scene, unfortunate for the feeling but showing that fun was had during the filming as a plus point. There was also a comment about personally not liking the added glint in the eye of the female character, however they understood that this was a matter of personal preference and why I included it for establishing the more cheesy feel.
Whilst appearing on YouTube, my video has had some interaction. YouTube has 490 million unique users worldwide per month, who make for an estimated 92 billion page views each month so I had to try and get my video out into the wider environment. It is difficult to get any kind of publicity on YouTube however so data can be slow to collate.
Since its upload on the 14th March, my video has received 156 views, 3 likes and 1 dislike. I am pleased with this figure due to the short amount of time my music video has been active. In terms of finding out who liked and disliked my video, it is difficult due to the mystery of what demographics are included yet it does offer me a unbiased view as they are not Facebook friends like my other link. Additionally, I do not know if my target audience viewed the video so there is no way to tell who disliked; this is why I created the questionnaire to target my intended audience and really get a feel of how they felt about my product.
Overall, reviews and audience feedback has been generally positive from all the parties that I have asked. In terms of my ancillary products, I asked for some kind of feedback from my peers and they noted the fact that the print publications linked back successfully to my music video and liked the idea of taking the hearts as the main theme rather than just the artist for my magazine advertisement. This was also highlighted in my target audience questionnaire as a feature they wanted to see so I am glad that this was recognised and appreciated by a wider audience.
My feedback has offered me some ideas for how to improve my products if I was to do this project again as highlighted by constructive criticism but I am generally pleased with responses received about my work.
Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
In addition, to make certain conventions even clearer, I would have liked to have included a greater amount of lip syncing to match music videos much more. However, the actor that volunteered to appear did not know the song at all so it was difficult to get him to perform more than one line so I worked with this; being a conceptual clip rather than a performance one made this less of an issue.
As well as this, the lyrics tell of the 'sun sinking low in the sky.' Unfortunately, on the day of filming, the weather was not brilliant with a lot of cloud cover so this lyric could not be as successfully matched to visuals. I could not film on another day as I did not want to be an inconvenience to actors who had given up their time on this certain day so continued on regardless - ideally, if it were possible, a nice exotic sunny beach may be better but it can be said that the weather does match the mood of the main character in a pathetic fallacy type fashion so the impact isn't lost too much.
The following Powerpoint relates the evaluation question to my ancillary products.
evaluation question 1
Changes to my Music Video
Whilst I have deeply analysed changes that I have made from my plans to my ancillary tasks, I have not yet talked in detail about the improvements and choices that were considered and appplied in my actual music video.
For instance, I had in mind the fact that certain conventions had to be met that fit with Andrew Goodwin's theory in the typical occurrences that feature in music videos and I knew of the message that I wanted to convey within my own text. The first noticeable difference from my storyboard to my final music video is the inclusion of labelling and added effects such like the 'POW!', hearts and 'GRR!' Whilst editing, I was able to manipulate the Final Cut Pro editing software and Photoshop to incorporate these kinds of elements. The effect that I wished it to convey was to add to the definition of the genre in making the music video a little less serious and more cheesy like a typical pop music video where ideas are not so literal. The clear narrative that I followed shows a fight scene and whilst I wanted to stick closely to matching visuals with lyrics (a convention), I did not this to be the main focus of the song and the theme taken from unrequited love to bullying. I have stated that I wanted my music video to fit into the conceptual clip, televised bard type style with the main theme of love coming through but I wanted to find a happy medium between conveying genre, visuals mathing lyrics and the overarching style of music video and I hope that this does not defer too much from any such piece. It can also be said that adopting this cartoon type style brings the convention of intertextuality to the creation from the media form of comics.
Another addition that was not captured in my storyboard is a lot more shots of hearts washing away/disappearing. As I have developed and progressed through this project, I have wanted to focus on the theme and televised bard style more and more as I feel it is good to be able to categorise my music video effectively. Therefore, by showing many more shots of hearts disappearing than I originally planned, I have been able to connote the idea of the main character and artist's love being lost through the same principle of shot yet in different styles, diversifying the music video in general and offering a type of identity to carry through onto further ancillary products.
Location ideas have also diverged slightly. For instance, my storyboard shows a shot of the main character waking up in bed, shocked to the line 'I wake up scared to phone her.' Whilst ideally this shot fits better with the lyric, I wanted to base my music video in the one location so the beach could opitamise all the emotions that the character felt, in the isolated location where he finishes up alone - the main feeling of the song itself. Some may say that this weakens my music video slightly as most music videos show a variety of locations, however whilst this may be the case, I has difficulties in terms of transport and actors so wanted to get my filming done as soon as actors were avaliable as well as containing the location as far as the underlying messages were concerned.
The final feature that appears in my music video but not on my storyboard is the aspect of titles showing the name of the song and artist performing it at both the start and end of the sequence. I included this as it is a typical convention of music videos in general so offering a sense of realism in that when the audience consume my video, they can really see that it would fit in with distributors such as The Box, popular music channels playing real songs. I used the programme LiveType on the Mac computers to create this effect and I am glad that I looked to incorporate it as the simple idea is very effective for making my music video look more professional.
Overall, I feel that I have stuck to my storyboard quite well in terms of shot ideas and the general messages that I looked to portray, only making additions and changes that work to improve the concept and amplify certain ideas. It shows that I had a clear view of what I wanted to produce yet was not afraid to take on extra ideas and exaggerate present principles to clearly offer set meanings to the audience about my music video.
For instance, I had in mind the fact that certain conventions had to be met that fit with Andrew Goodwin's theory in the typical occurrences that feature in music videos and I knew of the message that I wanted to convey within my own text. The first noticeable difference from my storyboard to my final music video is the inclusion of labelling and added effects such like the 'POW!', hearts and 'GRR!' Whilst editing, I was able to manipulate the Final Cut Pro editing software and Photoshop to incorporate these kinds of elements. The effect that I wished it to convey was to add to the definition of the genre in making the music video a little less serious and more cheesy like a typical pop music video where ideas are not so literal. The clear narrative that I followed shows a fight scene and whilst I wanted to stick closely to matching visuals with lyrics (a convention), I did not this to be the main focus of the song and the theme taken from unrequited love to bullying. I have stated that I wanted my music video to fit into the conceptual clip, televised bard type style with the main theme of love coming through but I wanted to find a happy medium between conveying genre, visuals mathing lyrics and the overarching style of music video and I hope that this does not defer too much from any such piece. It can also be said that adopting this cartoon type style brings the convention of intertextuality to the creation from the media form of comics.
Another addition that was not captured in my storyboard is a lot more shots of hearts washing away/disappearing. As I have developed and progressed through this project, I have wanted to focus on the theme and televised bard style more and more as I feel it is good to be able to categorise my music video effectively. Therefore, by showing many more shots of hearts disappearing than I originally planned, I have been able to connote the idea of the main character and artist's love being lost through the same principle of shot yet in different styles, diversifying the music video in general and offering a type of identity to carry through onto further ancillary products.
Location ideas have also diverged slightly. For instance, my storyboard shows a shot of the main character waking up in bed, shocked to the line 'I wake up scared to phone her.' Whilst ideally this shot fits better with the lyric, I wanted to base my music video in the one location so the beach could opitamise all the emotions that the character felt, in the isolated location where he finishes up alone - the main feeling of the song itself. Some may say that this weakens my music video slightly as most music videos show a variety of locations, however whilst this may be the case, I has difficulties in terms of transport and actors so wanted to get my filming done as soon as actors were avaliable as well as containing the location as far as the underlying messages were concerned.
The final feature that appears in my music video but not on my storyboard is the aspect of titles showing the name of the song and artist performing it at both the start and end of the sequence. I included this as it is a typical convention of music videos in general so offering a sense of realism in that when the audience consume my video, they can really see that it would fit in with distributors such as The Box, popular music channels playing real songs. I used the programme LiveType on the Mac computers to create this effect and I am glad that I looked to incorporate it as the simple idea is very effective for making my music video look more professional.
Overall, I feel that I have stuck to my storyboard quite well in terms of shot ideas and the general messages that I looked to portray, only making additions and changes that work to improve the concept and amplify certain ideas. It shows that I had a clear view of what I wanted to produce yet was not afraid to take on extra ideas and exaggerate present principles to clearly offer set meanings to the audience about my music video.
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Ancillary Task: Changes to my Digipak Advertisement
Once again, in a similar vein to my digipak production, I made some changes in the construction stages that were not in my original plan.
Firstly, one of the major alterations is the inclusion of the name of the artist and album running through the top and bottom of each picture, in black and blue, the same colours as seen on the digipak itself. I decided to add this due to the fact that it makes the advert clearer in what it is promoting as the product and artist is now noticeable where ever the eye is drawn. I experimented with how to incorporate this, writing the name in the same style as the digipak front cover at different points of the images but I felt that it overpowered the hearts too much so the simplistic feel was lost. Additionally, I did not want to detract from the style of the inside of my digipak in which lots of hearts are seen in rows; the way I have constructed it now not only promotes the whole digipak in general but also breaks down the strict lines of the pictures too. As well as this, between the repeated text, I have added a small circle representing a pebble that was also seen to separate the song titles on the back cover of my digipak, creating another link and fitting in with the overall beach style.
On top of this, I have changed the order of the heart images. This is because the backgrounds of each picture fits better in the way I have arranged them so it does not look quite so drastic between each picture. In the inside cover of my digipak, I was not so bothered about this as the mesh of hearts was the effect I was wishing to achieve but in the advert, I did not want it to appear quite so dominating. This can explain the reasonings behind making the pictures lighter and less defined in their colouring too, avoiding overpowering the print itself and working towards a more artistic overall feel.
The information at the bottom of the page has also been adapted slightly in that the name of the magazine giving the rating is 'Sugar.' This change was due to taking into account target audience. It contrasts with the quote from 'Q magazine' which has a completely different readership; showing that both publications like the digipak highlights the appeal for the album in that the audience diversification is wide and it may tempt people who are unsure on purchasing the product that it is for them and very enjoyable.
The final element that I have included is a record label logo and 'Univeral Records 2011.' Both the advertisements that I analysed incorporated this feature somewhere on the page so in order to make my product as realistic as possible, I enclosed this too.
Overall, I now feel that my advert, with the discussed changes, is much more suitable for the purpose of promoting the digipak whilst also linking to the other products I have produced successfully.
Firstly, one of the major alterations is the inclusion of the name of the artist and album running through the top and bottom of each picture, in black and blue, the same colours as seen on the digipak itself. I decided to add this due to the fact that it makes the advert clearer in what it is promoting as the product and artist is now noticeable where ever the eye is drawn. I experimented with how to incorporate this, writing the name in the same style as the digipak front cover at different points of the images but I felt that it overpowered the hearts too much so the simplistic feel was lost. Additionally, I did not want to detract from the style of the inside of my digipak in which lots of hearts are seen in rows; the way I have constructed it now not only promotes the whole digipak in general but also breaks down the strict lines of the pictures too. As well as this, between the repeated text, I have added a small circle representing a pebble that was also seen to separate the song titles on the back cover of my digipak, creating another link and fitting in with the overall beach style.
On top of this, I have changed the order of the heart images. This is because the backgrounds of each picture fits better in the way I have arranged them so it does not look quite so drastic between each picture. In the inside cover of my digipak, I was not so bothered about this as the mesh of hearts was the effect I was wishing to achieve but in the advert, I did not want it to appear quite so dominating. This can explain the reasonings behind making the pictures lighter and less defined in their colouring too, avoiding overpowering the print itself and working towards a more artistic overall feel.
The information at the bottom of the page has also been adapted slightly in that the name of the magazine giving the rating is 'Sugar.' This change was due to taking into account target audience. It contrasts with the quote from 'Q magazine' which has a completely different readership; showing that both publications like the digipak highlights the appeal for the album in that the audience diversification is wide and it may tempt people who are unsure on purchasing the product that it is for them and very enjoyable.
The final element that I have included is a record label logo and 'Univeral Records 2011.' Both the advertisements that I analysed incorporated this feature somewhere on the page so in order to make my product as realistic as possible, I enclosed this too.
Overall, I now feel that my advert, with the discussed changes, is much more suitable for the purpose of promoting the digipak whilst also linking to the other products I have produced successfully.
Ancillary Task: Digipak Magazine Advertisement Plan
After my textual analysis to highlight the conventions of magazine adverts for albums/digipaks, I have created a plan for my product and scanned the document in. This can be seen below (click the image twice for a readable view):
Ancillary Task: Digipak Magazine Advertisement Research
The second ancillary product that I need to produce is a magazine advert for the previously created digipak. To ensure that my advert is as realistic and suitable as possible, I must first research into the area and analyse some existing prints that are available to the public.
My first chosen advert is 'Ellie Goulding' with her album 'Lights' - this can be seen to the left. The whole advert seems to incorporate much the same elements that can be distinguished in the album front cover itself, displayed above; there is not much variation at all apart from a few set features to be discussed later. This allows for a successful cross media marketing style where the album can be displayed in shops and the similar in appearance advert placed in selected magazines to be viewed by the target market and therefore creating a link or identity for all her work. This appears to be a vital convention that I need to incorporate into my own production too.
The image is a close up of the artist's face in which a glittery effect outline has been applied, making her appear particularly mystical and almost untouchable to everyday people. This may reflect on her music itself in that it has a magical feel about it. In terms of placement and sizing, it alone takes up half of the A4 sheet as the main focus at the top of the page and as an audience reads left to right, up and down, the natural instinct is to be drawn to this first.
The colours throughout the piece are mainly gold and black. Gold is a sign of royalty and expense whilst black maintains a mysterious appeal. The typography is that of a unique font with the 'E' and 'G' in her name curved to allow for a more natural and flowing feel.
The smaller text is devoted to promoting the album in a different manner. For instance, ratings have been included from respected newspapers and magazines such as 'The Independent' and 'Q Magazine' of 4 and 5 stars which offers a credibility to the work and may encourage audiences to purchase the album.
Additionally, a quote is seen from a music based magazine stating that the album is, 'A staggering achievement,' with a 4 star rating. Once again, this builds on the idea of making the work more appealing to an audience and may convince someone unsure if they would like to purchase the album that it is worth the money, especially as the magazine that gave it this review is credible for its work with the music industry.
Alongside this, the website of the artist herself is placed below these reviews for the public who may want more information on the professional, as well as offering the idea of cross media marketing. Having the promotion online in addition to in print manipulates all the mediums that young people in particular would converge with on a regular basis, advertising in the right places and therefore resulting in the possibility for more revenue for the record company and artist in question - the main purpose for advertising in general.
Finally, the record company symbol is then shown at the very bottom of the advertisement, quite small in its display due to the fact that this is not necessarily information that the audience would need to know and does not add anything to the advert in question, unless the independence is shown that may appeal to a particular sector of society who wish to rebel against the big music corporations. In this advert however, this is not the case so the logo acts as a formality in that linkages from the artist to her record contract need to be shown for legislation purposes.
The second print advertisement I am going to look at is slightly different in its style. Shown to the right, the first noticeable distinction is the fact it does not take up the whole page. This may be due to the fact that the artist is not as mainstream as the previous artist so promotion is not as great.
The colouring is also made black and white meaning that the advert appears slightly bland with a more simple style adapted. The artist himself does not appear as an image and this could be because of the target audience not being particularly interested in the imagery of him, but with more of a music focus. This is in stark comparison to the first analysis where the picture of the artist took up most of the A4 advertisement.
The alien characters are very quirky and different, setting the singer apart from the norm as they may represent his own persona and character. These images can then reflect on his own music in that it has a very unique feel to it, maybe slightly futuristic with the alien theme established. The only other image that appears on the advert is the digipak he is promoting alongside the single. This is a clever convention as the audience know exactly what to look for if browsing in a shop and creates a connection between album and advert. This is also the only part that is seen in colour, making its emphasis much greater and more powerful.
In terms of the content, text is very basic in a block font that catches the eye with additional information included to the first discussed advert. Single details are shown as well as the album that it comes from, advertising both at the same time for a clever promotional idea. Artist name, single and album name are all seen - similar to Ellie Goulding - yet there is also a date of release, details of DJs and producers included and a price. This additional information may be relevant for the target audience who might recognise names and buy it for this specialist reason with the date creating suspense and build up before release. With no reviews, this gives an indication that the artist does not care about opinions of reviewers and sticks to a simplistic attitude and appeal.
Again, a website can be seen, with this artist also embracing new media technologies and reaching a wider audience in doing so. There is inclusion of the logo for his record company too which is a theme within both advertisements.
In conclusion, from analysing the two magazine advertisements, I have established a real sense of how they can work and differ in terms of the techniques on display, chosen content and placement of certain pieces of information. This will allow me to experiment myself and create a set message that I want to transmit from what I like about each advertisement and artist identity. Set conventions however are important for me to manipulate upon in my own print advert if I wish to convey the air of realism.
Also, from my first textual analysis, I have been able to see how a digipak or album can be highlighted on the advertisement itself, with connections being made such as the general style (in this example, the whole image) to make sure that the advert successfully works and interlinks with the products it is looking to sell as the underlying main purpose.
My first chosen advert is 'Ellie Goulding' with her album 'Lights' - this can be seen to the left. The whole advert seems to incorporate much the same elements that can be distinguished in the album front cover itself, displayed above; there is not much variation at all apart from a few set features to be discussed later. This allows for a successful cross media marketing style where the album can be displayed in shops and the similar in appearance advert placed in selected magazines to be viewed by the target market and therefore creating a link or identity for all her work. This appears to be a vital convention that I need to incorporate into my own production too.
The image is a close up of the artist's face in which a glittery effect outline has been applied, making her appear particularly mystical and almost untouchable to everyday people. This may reflect on her music itself in that it has a magical feel about it. In terms of placement and sizing, it alone takes up half of the A4 sheet as the main focus at the top of the page and as an audience reads left to right, up and down, the natural instinct is to be drawn to this first.
The colours throughout the piece are mainly gold and black. Gold is a sign of royalty and expense whilst black maintains a mysterious appeal. The typography is that of a unique font with the 'E' and 'G' in her name curved to allow for a more natural and flowing feel.
The smaller text is devoted to promoting the album in a different manner. For instance, ratings have been included from respected newspapers and magazines such as 'The Independent' and 'Q Magazine' of 4 and 5 stars which offers a credibility to the work and may encourage audiences to purchase the album.
Additionally, a quote is seen from a music based magazine stating that the album is, 'A staggering achievement,' with a 4 star rating. Once again, this builds on the idea of making the work more appealing to an audience and may convince someone unsure if they would like to purchase the album that it is worth the money, especially as the magazine that gave it this review is credible for its work with the music industry.
Alongside this, the website of the artist herself is placed below these reviews for the public who may want more information on the professional, as well as offering the idea of cross media marketing. Having the promotion online in addition to in print manipulates all the mediums that young people in particular would converge with on a regular basis, advertising in the right places and therefore resulting in the possibility for more revenue for the record company and artist in question - the main purpose for advertising in general.
Finally, the record company symbol is then shown at the very bottom of the advertisement, quite small in its display due to the fact that this is not necessarily information that the audience would need to know and does not add anything to the advert in question, unless the independence is shown that may appeal to a particular sector of society who wish to rebel against the big music corporations. In this advert however, this is not the case so the logo acts as a formality in that linkages from the artist to her record contract need to be shown for legislation purposes.
The colouring is also made black and white meaning that the advert appears slightly bland with a more simple style adapted. The artist himself does not appear as an image and this could be because of the target audience not being particularly interested in the imagery of him, but with more of a music focus. This is in stark comparison to the first analysis where the picture of the artist took up most of the A4 advertisement.
The alien characters are very quirky and different, setting the singer apart from the norm as they may represent his own persona and character. These images can then reflect on his own music in that it has a very unique feel to it, maybe slightly futuristic with the alien theme established. The only other image that appears on the advert is the digipak he is promoting alongside the single. This is a clever convention as the audience know exactly what to look for if browsing in a shop and creates a connection between album and advert. This is also the only part that is seen in colour, making its emphasis much greater and more powerful.
In terms of the content, text is very basic in a block font that catches the eye with additional information included to the first discussed advert. Single details are shown as well as the album that it comes from, advertising both at the same time for a clever promotional idea. Artist name, single and album name are all seen - similar to Ellie Goulding - yet there is also a date of release, details of DJs and producers included and a price. This additional information may be relevant for the target audience who might recognise names and buy it for this specialist reason with the date creating suspense and build up before release. With no reviews, this gives an indication that the artist does not care about opinions of reviewers and sticks to a simplistic attitude and appeal.
Again, a website can be seen, with this artist also embracing new media technologies and reaching a wider audience in doing so. There is inclusion of the logo for his record company too which is a theme within both advertisements.
In conclusion, from analysing the two magazine advertisements, I have established a real sense of how they can work and differ in terms of the techniques on display, chosen content and placement of certain pieces of information. This will allow me to experiment myself and create a set message that I want to transmit from what I like about each advertisement and artist identity. Set conventions however are important for me to manipulate upon in my own print advert if I wish to convey the air of realism.
Also, from my first textual analysis, I have been able to see how a digipak or album can be highlighted on the advertisement itself, with connections being made such as the general style (in this example, the whole image) to make sure that the advert successfully works and interlinks with the products it is looking to sell as the underlying main purpose.
Ancillary Task: Changes to my digipak plan
During my digipak construction, some decisions were made deferring from the original plan.
These were such like the inclusion of a sticker type design on the front cover in the bottom left hand corner, highlighting the "number one single 'Loner in Love'" and "with 1 hour bonus DVD." I decided to include these vital pieces of information on the front cover due to the fact that they are drawing factors for my audience and consumers that may purchase my digipak; the single would be recognised and known to be of high standard thanks to the high chart ranking and the additional DVD means that the public are getting more for their money as well as showing the artist off to his greatest potential.
These were such like the inclusion of a sticker type design on the front cover in the bottom left hand corner, highlighting the "number one single 'Loner in Love'" and "with 1 hour bonus DVD." I decided to include these vital pieces of information on the front cover due to the fact that they are drawing factors for my audience and consumers that may purchase my digipak; the single would be recognised and known to be of high standard thanks to the high chart ranking and the additional DVD means that the public are getting more for their money as well as showing the artist off to his greatest potential.
On the front cover, I also decided to change the style of the title of the album, 'Stories and Dreams.' Originally, I was going to copy the style of the artist's name in a handwriting way that is seen apparent in my music video with the different labels applied to lessen the serious mood established. However, I did experiment with this (as seen to the right) and thought that the style was not particularly professional. Even though the link can be made to my actual music video, there is still this factor with the artist's labelling anyway and I am much happier with the actual outcome than the one to the right.
For my inside panel, the artist's name spelt out in pebbles next to the guitar has changed to a simple heart. This is partly due to the difficulties in framing the picture as the name was quite long and I wanted the guitar to appear at an angle, but I do not feel that it particularly detracts from the theme of the album as the repetition of hearts continues on to this panel too. The sun also created a reflection of the guitar that I was not expecting yet I like this a lot as it represents the light-hearted and happy style of the artist's music as well as working as an interesting effect within the whole digipak itself.
In terms of the 3 inside panels, the mesh of hearts remains the same yet ideally, I wanted a larger heart to appear within this pattern. In practice however, this turned out to be extremely difficult as the shape of the heart was hard to establish within the square pictures and square digipak panel. Unfortunately, I could not implement this idea but I am still happy with the effect and theme, particularly in how some heart pictures connect on different panels; this creates a more linked appeal to connect the inside as one, which was seen in my textual analysis of an existing digipak. Furthermore, I would have liked to have used purely original photography within all sections of my digipak, yet the high demand and need for so many hearts made this difficult and for some of the selection, I carefully chose images from internet image searches. Some of the pictures would be impossible to capture myself but definitely add to the abstract heart theme and I feel that my original photography fits in with the other images successfully.
Looking at the back cover, the only main difference is the fact that DVD is not made up of pebbles but instead typed. Again, this was mainly to do with framing issues in that I did not know at which point my list of songs would completely end. However, I do not feel that it looks out of place as I have continued the use of the swirly font that blends with the sand quite nicely. The other minor change was the circles between songs instead of hashes. I felt that the circles looked similar to pebbles so was more fitting than stark hashes in general.
The Completed Digipak
Below are the separate six panels for my digipak, as well as the complete package.
Front Cover:
Inside panel:
Inside panel next to the CD/DVD holders:
Panel holding CD:
Panel holding DVD:
Back cover:
All together:
Front Cover:
Sunday, 27 March 2011
Ancillary Task: Digipak Plan and Ideas
Following my questionnaire results regarding additional products and digipak research to discover typical conventions, I produced a plan to work with when constructing the final version of the product graphically. Within my plan ideas, I have tried to incorporate all the conventions highlighted in my previous Powerpoint posting which can be seen through the annotations situated around the edge of the image. Now I have successfully put some ideas down onto paper, it has allowed me to process thoughts and see examples of the right messages that I am looking to convey as well as match real life digipak products on the market to make my version as realistic as possible.
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Ancillary Task: Digipak Research
As well as producing a music video for a chosen song, the brief I am working to also requires me to create a digipak and print advertisement for the product. I have already begun research into this area from my target audience questionnaire in my previous blog post and I will incorporate this with extra research that I have partaken in. This is shown below:
digipak research
digipak research
Target Audience Feedback
I have presented my findings from my target audience questionnaire in the form of a powerpoint with pie charts created on Microsoft Excel. The file is attached below:
questionnaire results
questionnaire results
Target Audience Questionnaire
Whilst it is good to collect a general consensus of what an audience thinks of my music video, it is also important to focus on a particular section of the general public - my target audience. In my research and planning, I established that my target audience is most likely to be that of teenage girls. To reach this section of society, I constructed a questionnaire in which the girls were to watch the video and then answer the questions commenting upon it. I handed out these to different year groups at the high school I attended and I received a total of 20 filled in and given back.
Here is the questionnaire itself:
I feel that I have included a good range of both open and closed questions that tackle all the important angles that need to be covered in media in general: audience, representation, genre and institution.
The results from the questionnaire will follow on the next blog post.
Here is the questionnaire itself:
Music Video Questionnaire
Please could you take the time to fill out this quick questionnaire and circle each answer. It is part of my media studies coursework and I am interested in finding out about your views and opinions. All answers will be anonymous. Thank you.
Watch the link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1jm_viMg-s&feature=channel_video_title
Watch the link on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1jm_viMg-s&feature=channel_video_title
1. How old are you?
________
2. Do you like the music video? Why/Why not?
Yes
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t mind
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t mind
3. Have you ever heard the song before?
Yes
If yes, do you think the music video is suitable for it?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
If yes, do you think the music video is suitable for it?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
4. What genre would you describe the song as? Tick all that apply.
Pop
Acoustic
Rock
Other (please state)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Acoustic
Rock
Other (please state)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Would you say that the music video effectively portrays this genre? Why/why not?
Yes
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t know
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t know
6. Do you understand the narrative line?
Yes
No
No
7. Do you think that the narrative fits with the style of music video?
Yes
No
Don’t know
No
Don’t know
8. Do you understand each character well?
Yes
No
Don’t know
No
Don’t know
9. What feelings do you have towards the main character/artist, Owen?
Sympathise
Know how he feels
Think he is stupid
No feelings
Don’t know
Other (please state)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Know how he feels
Think he is stupid
No feelings
Don’t know
Other (please state)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10. Do you think that the music video would be suitable for wider distribution, e.g. would fit in to be seen on music channels such as The Box?
Yes
No
Don’t know
No
Don’t know
11. Do you like the continued theme of different hearts being wiped away throughout the music video?
Yes
No
Don’t know
No
Don’t know
12. Do you like the use of special effects e.g. the labelling and POW etc? Why/why not?
Yes
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t know
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Don’t know
13. If an album and album advertisement was going to be made alongside this music video, what ideas would you like to see carried across? Tick all that apply.
Focus of main artist
Heart theme
Beach location
War between two male characters
Labelling style
Don’t know
Other (please state)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Heart theme
Beach location
War between two male characters
Labelling style
Don’t know
Other (please state)
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
14. Overall, please rate my music video out of 10
_____________
15. Would you suggest any improvements for my music video?
Yes
What?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
What?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
No
16. Finally, if you have any other comments about my music video, the song itself, the style and construction, the added special effects or any other points that you feel are relevant, please write them below.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thank you for completing this questionnaire. Have a nice day.The results from the questionnaire will follow on the next blog post.
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