How Did You Use Modern Technology in Each of Your Stages?

In the planning, I used Microsoft Word and Microsoft Power Point Presentation to put together my collages of images (some examples below) and to create my Shot Breakdown.
They were both easy to use and efficient as well - I never had an issue with either of them and so my planning, research and evaluation all went smoothly from that respect.

I also used Microsoft Power Point to print off and place the images to give to my audience for feedback regarding my digipak - although something simple, it did help me a lot with the development of my designs and for the efficiency and easy ability to use I am incredibly grateful. it also enabled me to give a professional feel to the layout of the images. 

The internet and particular websites also contributed a great deal to the development of my three products - YouTube enabled me to find video inspirations for the video itself, and then later on what kind of dancing I wanted in the video. Furthermore, I was able to post my finished video onto YouTube and then onto Facebook, allowing more members of my audience to view it and try to make it as popular as possible.



   

To edit my video, I used Adobe Premier Elements - a video editing software that is available on the computers at my school - so there was no danger of me not being able to get it in time for editing my video.
This software allowed me to trim my shots down to the sections that I wanted, it made all my clips easily accessible and it allowed me to put the audio over the top of my video so that I could upload it to YouTube straight away.

   

To edit my photos for my digipak, I used a website called 'Pixlr Express', which was really easy to use and allowed me to make many changes over the course of the creative process. It is a free website, with advanced tools and the option to place images over the top - for example light drawings or geometrical patterns.

This website has some other branches too - Pixlr-o-matic and Pixlr Editor - but these weren't as easy to use or didn't have as wide a variety of tools, so Pixlr Express was definitely the right choice for what I was after, a quick yet professional photo editing website. 

Lastly, I used blogger to post all of my decisions and keep track of my creative decisions. Because it's online I could access it at school, at home and on my phone. This made it really easy to post something when I got inspiration or had a sudden idea of what I wanted to do and how I planned to achieve it.
I was also able to change posts if I had a change of heart, and this made my planning a lot easier. 

Problems and How I Overcame Them

When we were in the drama studio the first night that we filmed, the lights wouldn't change colour. So we had to film the whole first night under red light and I was really self conscious that we would have a lot of red filming and not enough white and blue - but the next night I managed to get my friend Shona (who knows how to work the lights) to show me how to change them, and then we did both blue and white filming in the next shoot.

Another problem was the smoke alarms. Using my smoke machine there was always the possibility that we were going to set the smoke alarms off - so we had to make sure that the room wasn't filled up with smoke and we frequently ventilated the room (keeping the windows and doors open) to make sure that the smoke didn't get high enough to reach the alarms. This was a big problem that me and Mrs Bailey (Head of Drama) had been speaking about a lot in the lead up to filming. 

I also had an issue with the camera - at first I didn't have a tripod, but then I found out someone else had taken it so I borrowed it off of them for the two nights that I filmed. Then the camera turned out to be booked, but it wasn't charged - so I then had to bring in my own SLR (Canon EO5 1100) to continue filming on the second night of the shoot. 

Audience Feedback

I have gained a lot of helpful feedback from my audience!!
Along the creative process, I frequently conducted quantitative research to found how many people found which designs or ideas the most suitable and appealing. Without their feedback I would have chosen different designs and then the album designs and the video itself may not have been as a good a success, because the decisions I may have made may have been the wrong ones.

The research above was what I conducted for my digipak designs. I printed out pictures of all the possible designs that I was considering and I asked various people who fit the description of my target audience to simply put a line next to the ones that they liked the most. This I feel was a good way to conduct this research, because it was quick to conduct and to consolidate - meaning that I had more time to make sure that my designs were as good as they could possibly be, rather than rushed.



I also conducted qualitative research, where I texted some peers who fit the audience I was aiming for, and they responded with longer answers. This screenshot was at the earlier stages of my research and planning, and was in regards to my music video itself - trying to get an idea of what kind of videos my audience would be interested in. This allowed me to make informed decisions on what areas to focus on and which genres, so that it wasn't guesswork and hoping that it would work out - I knew what would work and what wouldn't, and I was able to make the correct decisions.

I also consulted my audience members yet again once all three products were finished. This made sure that I was getting a first hand opinion on what they enjoyed and what they didn't - this way if I were to do this again, I can avoid making the same mistakes.

A lot of the audience members liked the reverse shots and the editing pace - it made them feel as though the dancers adrenaline was running through them as well - Sarah (an audience member) even stated that her breathing got a bit quicker with the editing!

I made videos with the audience members as well to try and get some more qualitative research from them, as a lot of my research and planning was done with quantitative data. I also asked them individually and wrote down their answers on previous blog posts. 

This feedback from my audience members really helped me to shape my designs and my final ideas - as well as informing me how much my initial feedback paid off with the success of my final three products! I believe that the most effective elements of my ancillary texts was the artwork - the tiara and the wings. I think that because my audience had never seen anything like that before that it really appealed to them. I believe that the best element of my video was the editing that moved with the beats of the music - without that change in pace the video wouldn't have had the same effect on the audience.

The audience received my products how I had intended them to - they believed it was all different and yet still worked. Of course there were criticisms on how I could better them, and everyone will have something that I could have improved on, but to have the general consensus that the final three products were an appealing, interesting, unique and different set that was still successful is something that I had really hoped for in my research and planning.

Back to Planning

In the connections between previous digipaks that I've looked at, all the magazine adverts and the digipaks related to each other. For example, in Florence and the Machine's Lungs, the designs and imagery were all very similar.
I also took the inspiration for my drawings from this album - on the back cover is the drawing of a pair of lungs, and that's where I decided to interpret that onto my own album, with my own twist.

I also got the idea of using a border from this design, of course I decided to make my border white to fit with my colour scheme and to balance out the contrast between black and white - however I took my design from the magazine advert of Kasabian, Empire. This is because I believe that it fitted best with the lay out of my magazine advert - even though the Kasabian advert wasn't in the same lay out as mine.

These designs really helped me to develop my own ideas - and although Kasabian isn't in the dance genre, in rock they are considered experimental and different, and so I think that the inspiration from them is appropriate - they're different from me, yet different from others like them, which is something that I was trying to achieve as well.

The connection between the ancillary texts and the music video

There isn't really a noticeable link between the ancillary texts and my music video, and I didn't want there to be. I wanted my video to be as different as possible in every aspect - and that includes being seperate from the album design as well. Artist's such as Ed Sheeran have unlinked products, for example his album 'X' doesn't feature any of the design work in his music videos either.

I think that this can work in my favour, because being different from everything can boost success by increasing the individuality of this video, and that is something that my target audience would find appealing.
Below is a video that I did of a small intereview that I conducted with three people that fit the description of my target audience, and so this will give me an accurate representation of whether the video and ancillary texts would be successful.


The video is of the question, "Do the digipak and the magazine advert link together?", and they all responded with positive answers, which has made me really happy. With this positive feedback and I am now assured that my designs would have been a success.
I did another video below, of the question "Do the digipak, magazine advert the music video link together?" and, again, below are the responses from the same three people (to try and keep it as accurate as possible).

The video features Sarah, Zoe and Joe who are all fitting of my target audience. To know that they liked the synergy between the magazine advert and the digipak has filled me with relief - because trying to appeal to an audience who don't really like the norm has turned out to be quite difficult! 

The link to the video was a question that I asked them as well, and below is the second video of their little interview that I conducted; the question was how do the magazine advert, digipak and video all link together.

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

I believe that my video fits many conventions for music of this genre. For example, with my video the song is in the dance genre and a lot of the videos in this genre are performance based, featuring a lot of dancing and singing.

The inspiration for this video came from the song We Disappear - Jon Hopkins ft. Lulu James, where the concept for my video came from. The same idea - dancing, singing, reverse shots and bright lighting - really caught my eye and I decided to base my video on the conventions of this one.
This way my video fits into the conventions of this genre - especially through the changing of clips between her lip singing and her dancing I really feel that this video fits the normality of a performance based music video.

I also think that my video stands out - although it fits with the typical conventions of a performance based video the fast editing it something that isn't used very often for fear of looking unprofessional. I think that my faster editing pace really boosts the individuality of this video, as well as allowing it to grow based on the conventions of a dance genre music video.

With the ancillary texts, the connection between them isn't very clear. Although the two texts synergise with each other very well (through artwork and colour scheme etc), they do not link to the video as clearly. This was a conscious decision made by myself because I wanted the video to be completely different - from what people would have expected the video to be and from the album. This way the video stands out even more from the digipak and advert, and although there may be less recognition between the ancillary texts and the video by the audience I believe that the success of the video will be improved by how unique it has turned out to be.

Music Video: The Process

I decided that I wanted to not have the actual artist in the video, but someone else. Although many people asked me why I wanted to do this, I had a simple answer. Artist's such as Elton John and Sia have both used this technique - and because Sia is in this music genre I felt that it could work with my target audience.

This video features model Chantelle Winnie lip singing to the lyrics of Sia's sections of the song - and that is something that I wanted to incorporate into my own video. 

Elton John also did this with Robert Downey Jr. in his video 'I Want Love'. 

I used Adobe Premier Elements to edit my video together. This was really easy to use, and allowed me to use tools such as time mapping and reverse speed. These effects made the video more visually interesting, but I really enjoyed making the video and putting it together, I had no problems with the software and the end product was exactly what I wanted!

The blue sections show the visual clips of Tabby dancing, and the green is the audio of the song (Confess To Me - Disclosure ft. Jessie Ware). It was really easy to cut and edit clips to the length I needed them, a small sign such as this [ came up and you just cut it down to the points that you want, and that's it! 

To put some of the frames into reverse, I had to go onto the 'Tools' bar at the bottom, which then led me to this page. This page allows you to select which sections of the clip you would like you to slow down, speed up or put into reverse. Simply allocate the section you wish to change in yellow, and then that's where the effect will show. For most of my clips, I covered the whole frame in yellow and put an effect on it but for some I did only use a section, for example when the lyrics are "Don't get lost in" and she straightens her back, and I selected on the section where she comes back up to be quickened, and the effect is noticeable yet subtle. 

Another way that I put shots into reverse without going into the 'time mapping' tool (the section above) is to simply right click, then click 'Time Stretch' and a small box comes up into the middle of the screen, as shown below. 

Although you can also change the speed from this box as well, it isn't as easy to use and doesn't produce accurate results efficiently. 

To play a clip forward and then play it in reverse - looking like one fluid clip - was quite hard. I had to play the clip normally, and then crop it from the exact same moment it finished on another clip and then play it in reverse. This took me a while the three times that I did it, but the effort was worth it. 

The last effect that I used was the mirror effect, I only used it once but I think that it worked really well. I also sped up the clip too so her movements are more defined and 'jerky'. 

MUSIC VIDEO!!!!!

Below is the link to my finished and finalised music video!!! Yay!!

I am sssssoooooooooo happy with my music video, I worked really hard and so did Tabby (my dancer), we had to stay at school on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd of December till 6:30 both days to get all the filming done!
We encountered problems, as we expected. The lights wouldn't work on the Tuesday - as in they wouldn't change from red, so we had to film all the dancing for that night in red light. This worried me, because the lighting director wasn't going to be there on Wednesday and I was panicking that we would have the same problem again - but we didn't! The lights were being good, and changed straight away from blue to white!

Tabby was an amazing dancer to work with, she was so patient and helped me get over the obstacles in our way. When I asked her to do something for me she didn't ask questions or get shy, she just got right down to it and I think that's mainly why we got it finished so quickly. I got a lot of footage of her dancing to seperate sections of the song, and she lip singed the sections that I need as well. She put a lot of effort into her performance and that really comes across in the video.

To try and get mass feedback and an idea of the general feeling that my audience felt in regards to my video, I decided to upload a link to facebook to get people to notice it more. Below is a screenshot of the post:

The post has been up for around 17 hours, and it's got 32 likes on facebook and really positive comments! On YouTube, it has 5 likes and 233 views already! This has made me really happy, having all the initial comments positive and not having any dislikes on YouTube either!!! 

On Facebook I did asked for some positive and some 'room for improvement' comments, and my friend John gave me an improvement one. 

He said "You could have focused less on the smoke and maybe used some background props?", however although I appreciate his feedback and his opinion on the video, I do actually believe that if I had the chance to redo it, I wouldn't add background props in. This is because, from the other array of positive comments, I feel that making the focus less on her and more on other objects wouldn't leave the same effect on the audience. 

To try and grab a few more members of my audience for feedback, I asked them in person what they thought of the video (and the ancillary texts), and whether they thought they all worked together; because I had already got their opinions on them individually.

I put their responses into a video, and below is the result:

Inside My Digipak

The two hands together will be on the front of the booklet on the inside of the digipak, and the circular image of the lips is the CD artwork with the album name and the name of the artist.
I believe that this design really challenges the conventions of a typical dance genre music album - this is because a lot of the designs for my chosen genre use bright colours and abstract imagery - I decided to go against this. I decided this because I thought that by going more simple, with bright colours being everywhere, and large imagery a common factor on dance albums something smaller wouldn't go unnoticed by my audience.
I also made the CD artwork a lot more detailed - this is because I needed to give the inside of the digipak some flavour to it as well, I didn't want the audience to find the outside interesting and then the inside boring. I also tilted the image to the side because the writing wasn't clear when it was straight, but I think that it worked for the best. Using Microsoft Power Point, I tilted the image to the right to make sure that the writing was easily read and it also catches the eyes of the audience a bit quicker too.

I took the inspiration of this entire design theme of sketch from Sky Ferreria's album cover 'The Witching Hour' of which an example image is shown below. Sky is an artist that has a similar audience to what my artist has, and so I thought that the inspiration was appropriate.

Feedback from the usual six were all exactly the same, and so I haven't posted each individual comment.
But the information I received told me that the CD cover was the most interesting thing in the inside (as I had predicted/hoped), and I was told the the relation (synergy) between the album inside, outside and the magazine adverts were really noticeable and well designed. However, it was noted that the hands imagery above was too light, and it almost stood in the shadow of the CD artwork which is darker and stands out more on the inside.
Overall the feedback was positive, which is exactly what I was hoping for, and there are always ways in which to improve which I will bear in mind for next time.

Digipak Back Cover Development

This is the back cover for my digipak, and the image above I drew and scanned myself. I took the song names from the songs that I listen to because then I can rest assured that the name of the songs are ones that can keep my audience interested - things such as Hyper Paradise and Resolution are quite ambiguous in meaning, and the audience will believe that by listening to the songs the mystery behind them will be revealed.

For the back cover of my digipak I was really confident that my target audience would like it; it's simple yet effective, it keeps with the colour scheme and the style of drawn images. However, as always there are criticisms of things that I overlooked.

SHONA

What did you like about this CD back cover? I love the synergy between the digipak and the magazine advert! I think that it's such a cool idea with all the sketches and it really works! 

What would you improve? Maybe make the writing bigger? I feel that the hand is really over powering over the writing, which is more important. 

PATRICK

What did you like about this CD back cover? I think the layout is sick! It's so cool, all aligned in the centre is definitely the best way to go! 

What would you improve? I think the text could be bolder, it's kind of hard to read in the colour that it is. 

SARAH

What did you like about this CD back cover? I like how simple you've done it, I think that the simplicity really adds to the effect. It also looks really modern, really fresh - something that people would take their time to look at. The hand also seems really friendly, like it's not in a rigid position - it looks like it's reaching for something, something that won't hurt it. 

What would you improve? The text - it needs to be bigger, I almost didn't look at it! 

JOE

What did you like about this CD back cover? The hand provokes mystery - it's in a really ambiguous position and that really appeals to me... It makes me want to listen to the music to understand what it's reaching for. I think that the linked layout between ancillary texts is also something that really makes it stand out - it's a recognisable style that works in your favour! 

What would you improve? The text just doesn't stand out to me, it needs to be bigger or darker. 

ZOE

What did you like about this CD back cover? I really like the layout of the text, I think that because it's just in a vertical list it stands out. Vertical lists are so boring. 

What would you improve? It's quite plain... I don't think that colour should be added because that ruins the effect, but maybe make the writing more attractive? 

After this feedback, I can see that the writing isn't as clear as it could be. This is something that quite annoys me, because it's something that I overlooked every time I edited it. I'm really glad that my audience liked the design, and I think that I focused on that aspect too much, and not enough of the finer and simpler details. If I got the opportunity to redo it then I would make the writing bigger (rather than bolder) because I think that making the writing darker would make the rest of the colour scheme look really uneven. I would make it bigger because it would make it easier to read, and it would make it more noticeable - and then maybe it wouldn't be such a plain back cover, that with the writing in a bigger font the lack of colour wouldn't be as noticeable. 

Digipak Front Cover Feedback

I did the same feedback method for my digipak front cover as I did for the magazine advert - I asked the same people as well to try and make it as accurate as possible.

SHONA

What did you like about this CD case front cover? I think that her eyes are amazing! I am so drawn to them, and they don't look over edited either - it's really really well done. 
What would you improve? I would say that the writing should be in a different place, to be honest I didn't even see it until you mentioned it! 

JOE

What did you like about this CD case front cover? The writing looks really professional, and it looks the same as the writing on the magazine advert as well. I also really like the wings, they obviously aren't real but you don't notice that straight away, it was really well edited. 

What would you improve? The eyes kind of scare me I'm not going to lie, she looks like a vampire. 

ZOE

What did you like about this CD case front cover? I really really like the wings and the crown!! I think that they were such a good design idea, I mean I've never seen anything else like that before! The crown makes her look sassy, but the wings suggest angelic... I really love it, it looks great. 

What would you improve? Maybe re-think where the writing should be? Not sure that it gets the attention that it needs where it is. 

PATRICK

What did you like about this CD case front cover? It looks really relaxed but it has such a big effect, does that make sense? It sets a really good vibe, and I've listened to [Confess To Me] before and it really fits well. I also really like the way the artwork goes over the image itself and into white borders - that was a really nice design element. 

What would you improve? I think all of it works well, and to change it would disrupt the vibe that it gives off. 

SARAH

What did you like about this CD case front cover? I am so drawn to the eyes - they look so cool! It really adds to the mystery - like why do her eyes shine like that? And the black and white colour scheme adds to that too, I think that no colour really works for this design and style. It's so unique, I don't think I've seen advertising like this, with the crown and wings. Really memorable. 

What would you improve? I think that the wings should be the same colour as the crown, not a paler shade. I think it would flow better if that was the case. 

ADAM

What did you like about this CD case front cover? The photo itself is really cool, I love her pose and how she looks so sassy and 'I-don't-care'! Her eyes as well, they look so cool and mesmerising, that was a really nice touch! I like the artwork too, the crown and the wings - they make it really easily recognisable, like if I saw something similar this would be what I thought of first. 

What would you improve? The writing isn't very noticeable where it is, I think maybe putting somewhere that the audience would look first (maybe the top?) would be better. 

From the feedback I can see that my audience think that the writing could have been placed better. In the creative process trying to place it elsewhere resulted in the writing not being clear, and changing the colours would disrupt the colour scheme. But then instead of going with the better design option I went for the easier option, to keep it the same and put it somewhere that would result in lower success rates for this digipak front cover. After gaining this feedback I can see that this decision didn't go unnoticed by my target audience and in the future I can't underestimate their ability to notice specific elements of design. 

Magazine Advert Feedback

In evaluating my magazine advert, I consulted my target audience for the last time. Choosing three boys and three girls, I asked each of them what they liked and what they would have changed. Below are the responses.

SHONA

What did you like about this magazine advert? The symmetry. I think that something as simple as that can make an advert look so much more interesting! I also really like the pose that she's doing, and it reminds me a lot of the CD cover, so that's a good thing as well! 

What would you improve? I think that the text could have been made slightly bigger - like with the reviews, if I'd been walking past the advert then I wouldn't have noticed them! 

JOE

What did you like about this magazine advert? I absolutely love the crown idea! I think it's a really nice and stylish touch to the advert. I think the white border was a good design choice as well - it makes it look even more professional. The pose also synergises with the digipak, and I think that that will boost the recognition of the album. 

What would you improve? I think a dash of colour wouldn't go unnoticed - something to really catch people's eye as they flick through the pages of a magazine.

ZOE

What did you like about this magazine advert? I think that the reviews were a really good idea - I know that some magazine adverts that promote albums decide not to use them, but I think that getting opinions from renowned magazines and critics can really boost opinions of that artist - and will definitely give them a wider audience. 

What would you improve? I think that the bottom itself is really plain - the monochrome colour scheme doesn't help really, but I think that the text could be in colour to just make it pop out of the page more. 

PATRICK

What did you like about this magazine advert? The cross over between the art and the photography was such a good idea! The style and creativity of the designer really shows through in that aspect, and it's something that I am definitely drawn to from the page. I also think that because of the monochrome colour scheme it's not too 'in-your-face' which is so good - too many artists at the moment are trying to be so outrageous and different that they end up being all the same, simplicity is where the real difference is. 

What would you improve? I think that, although the border is a good idea, that it is a bit plain. Why not put some information at the top? Draw some dots down the side? Just something to add to the border so it isn't as bland. 

SARAH

What did you like about this magazine advert? I like the bottom text - not only how it's laid out but also the actual content. It's a good layout for this artist - and it's reflective of their music (simple and effective). I also like the synergy between the album cover and this advert - the pose, the tiara... A really nice touch. 

What would you improve? I think that the text could have been bigger - when people are in rush they may not pay attention to the text at the bottom but they should, it's important and it boosts people's opinion!

ADAM

 What did you like about this magazine advert? I like the use of the tiara - and how you've also used it on the CD cover. I think that the eyes really stand out here - that the makeup has been used to make them look bolder and darker, and it really jumps out from the page for me. I also like the black and white colour scheme, I think that it adds to the mystery of the advert and the artist, and that it will draw people to their music. 

What would you improve? Honestly? Nothing. I thought it was great. 

After receiving this audience feedback and I can say that, in hindsight, I think that splashes of colour may have been a good idea. This is because the advert itself - although professional when looked at in detail - may not catch the eyes of the audience when flicking through a magazine, or walking down a street. Because of this critique I have received it can help me to not make the same mistake in future endeavors.