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Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• Before creating our main task we did research into the indie genre and the demographic that we were aiming for. We asked our peers and general public what kind of music they were into and what kind of stuff they liked to see in music videos. This led us to developing ideas surrounding young people and the things they deal with on a day-to-day basis.
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• Before creating our video we had to decide whether we wanted it to be performance, narrative or  combination if both. After producing a video of ourselves lip-syncing to the song we had chosen and showing it to our target audience we gathered that the video should be narrative, sticking to the things we had gathered about what kind of indie video people like. Something downbeat and that told a complete story, like Kodaline's High hopes video.
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• When editing our video we took frequent breaks to upload our video at the stage it was at to show our peers and gather more feedback in order to create the best product. By doing this we were able to edit any small details that stood out to our audience and determine which parts of the video were strongst in order to uphold the quality.
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• When we completed our music video we garnered feedback from people that allowed us to make any minor tweaks before we had to submit our work, luckily the feedback was mostly positive and we were able to submit our final product.

Evaluation Question 4

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

Evaluation Question 2

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

Evaluation Question 1

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

Final Poster

This is my completed magazine advert. I took inspiration from many other indie magazine adverts, keeping with the simplistic to the point nature of the ad in order to sell the product efficiently whilst keeping a strong link between this and my music video as I still use the same actors.

Magazine Adverts

In the indie genre magazine adverts are usually simply an image of the band or album cover with simple text explaining the album name and where it is out, this is what I wanted to recreate with my advert.The text is very simple and straightforward for the purpose of selling the album or show, this is what I tried to replicate in my advert. 

Final Album

I completed a new digipak that fits more with the themes of my video than the last. The front and back cover feature the two actors that were in the video to make a clear link between this task and my music video. Unlike my last attempt I kept this version black and white to create a more melancholy indie feel to it like bands such as the 1975 do with their albums. I renamed the band and the album to tie in more with the themes of the digipak as well as to make a clearer link between this and my music video; the title of the album, 'Misplaced' links to the feeling of being outside yourself or out of place which is the story told in the video. I used an overlay of the same image on the front cover and the inside covers to fit with the theme of being misplaced. I chose a four plate digipak because it is more conventional in the indie genre.

New Album Cover

Upon reflection of my digipak cover I recently went back to take different pictures for my cover that had a deeper link to the music video, more specifically I used the actors from my video in the new pictures as well as one of the same locations. I do not think anything else on the digipak will change except for the switching of the images to make the three properties more linked.

The Bag

During the video there is a frame in which the first protagonist drops her bag in London. During the showcase this was a query that came up several times, there are many reasons why we did this; firstly, this was a nod to a video in which we took a lot of inspiration from, "Kodaline - High Hopes" in which he leaves his bag in a field after searching for his dog. Additionally it was a symbol of this character moving forward from the troubles of her past and leaving the things she once kept dear to her behind in order to start fresh. 

Music and Album Covers

When it comes to my digipak I had a clear idea but now I am less sure about than I was at the beginning. At first I did not want my album cover to match my music video as it was unrealistic in comparison to real Indie music conventions, however, upon its completion it is so unattached from the music that the idea is lost. Personally I feel my ideas are somewhat justified but for the purposes of having a continuous thread throughout the three properties: album cover, magazine advert and the video itself, I think I will need to retake pictures for my album cover.

I have done research into the Indie genre once again and have found that the band Clean Cut Kid has an attachment between their songs and their music videos for these songs, but these songs were released as singles so the video has more relevance. Nevertheless I have decided to take inspiration from this for my next attempt at my digipak. 

Final Video!

Narrative, Performance, 1 Location

In Clean Cut Kid's latest video they use both a narrative and performance style of video to illustrate a story between a recently separated couple as well as to showcase the band. The use of one space is interesting in this video as in some ways there are two different stories being told; the story of the couple and the story of the performing band but the two have been put together. In the video the stories do not intertwine or interact except from the use of their shared space, I found it interesting how they used the idea of one location but were able to do so many things with it. This also reminded me of the meeting of the two protagonists within my groups music video. 

Newspaper Ad First Draft

So far this is what I have constructed for my newspaper advertisement to pair with my digipak, I plan to get feedback on it as it is in order to help me to gage what is good and what needs to be changed. 

Allan Rayman & His Films

Allan Rayman is a fairly new musician who instead of creating music videos he creates films for his songs. Shown here is one example of this, his film "The Wolf & The Red Dress" is a mix of three different songs along with a narrative that flows throughout them. The story starts off very upbeat and light-hearted through his song 27 and Beverly however as the second song begins to end the narrative takes a dark turn and the song Graceland plays. 

For me the is the best example of how music videos are much more than a way for musicians to publish music but also can be visual masterpieces. As a lover of both music and film, seeing the two combined in such a beautiful way makes me very happy. 

Album Cover

My digipak, unlike my music video, features the "band" that created the song. I wanted to do this as it is a convention of most album covers within the indie genre. I tied it to my video by keeping the contrast of urban and rural and I also used one of the same locations during my shoot. Even though the link is very subtle I think it ties in well with the song as the contrast between urban and rural was one of the key parts of the video. 

The font is kept uniform throughout the album, I did this because I felt that this font was suitable for the theme of the album and went well with the aesthetic of the pictures I took. 

I also used other conventions of albums by putting on a barcode and a logo from the record company "Fueled By Rayman" so it looks like this band and album come from a legitimate and reputable source. Overall I think this album would fit in well in the music section of many stores that stock music similar to this as it follows the conventions of many other Indie music albums, such as Mumford and Sons' Babel and Jake Bugg's Shanghai Nights. 

Digipak Start & Photoshopping

Today I took pictures for my digipak cover, it started off rocky as two of the people I had asked to attend were not able to at the last minute but I pressed on nevertheless. The pictures were fairly easy and quick to take as it was just two boys and two locations.

I chose to use people that were not in the video as it made the most sense in real life as album covers did not usually use images from one of their videos unless all their videos had the same or similar themes as well as actors. Originally the image was meant to include four band members but instead of coming to take the pictures a different day I kept it as two as it was similar to one of my favourite bands, Twenty One Pilots, who also only have two members. 

After finishing the pictures I went into school in order to get a small head start on photoshop, learning the tools and testing different ideas as I did not want to waste my lesson time doing so. I think this session was extremely helpful as I have started editing my cover as well as learning the basics of photoshop. All there is left to do is to finish editing and constructing my digipak. 

And That's a Wrap

After some colour correction and any other small edits that may need to be finished we have completed our final advanced portfolio piece, after this we will move onto our individual digipak work and exam revision.

Overall I am extremely proud of the product we have created, we put a lot of effort into it and the finished thing is not what we had first intended as our ideas have morphed through time but something we are happy with and something we hope will get us good marks. 

Digipak Analysis

This album cover has very significant, clear and consistent theme throughout. The front and back cover have similar images on the background, however the front cover has a cartoon image of the artist standing in the middle of the road in a suburban street overlapping the images of pinkish clouds that are also on the back cover. The images are very soft and have a pale, mute colour palette that match the font style and colour. It gives a general feel about the songs and the artist as the soothing tones of the colours hint of what kind of music is in this album.

The font style is italic and reminiscent of script and calligraphy. The font on the back matches the font on the front perfectly except for its size. The mute pink colour of the font matched the colours of the album tying in with the soothing tones. However, the font and colour of the artist's name, it is smaller all caps and in white. This takes the attention away from the artist and brings all attention to the art. The names of the songs are in a bullet-point list form like many of other albums.

This album style keeps with the indie genre as it is simplistic, consistent throughout and has a cartoonish version of the artist instead of a real picture.

Digipak Analysis

The front cover of the album features the band at the center in a non-musical setting. The band is in the foreground and center of the image and there is a mass of things going on in the background. The image is both full in the background but in the foreground very clear and focused on the bad. The image is also seemingly unfiltered, it may have been photo-shopped but there have been no significant or obvious changes to the image, like colour change or image manipulation. Not all of the artists are looking towards the camera, the picture of the band seems very natural, like they are in the middle of conversation. 

The font type is all caps and unconnected which makes the album title and artist name very clear, like the band on the cover, the font is also centered on the album. It is in a space where nothing is happening in the picture, this makes it stand out and does not clutter the entire cover. The font is black which is uniform and in keeping with the Mumford and Sons style.

The font on the back of the cover is the same as the font used on the front. Unlike other albums the song names are not written in a bullet point list form nut in a kind of brick wall layout, similar to the image they are layered over. Unlike the font on the front of the album, the font on the back is white. This may just be to stand out of the dark colours in the picture, this juxtaposes the image nicely and creates a stark image. 

The image on the back is not at all linked to the front image, it is darker and unrelated. It is an image that allows to focus on the song names and not the actual picture. It is artistic and aesthetically pleasing as well as non-specific enough to have the main focus be the words.

Heavydirtysoul

Twenty One Pilots has released a video for their song Heavydirtysoul that was released on the Blurryface album (2015). I thought I would highlight the use of single location in this video because it it done so well, the pictures match the visuals in a very subtle way creating meaning that is drawn out by every individual. It a video that desires to be interpreted as it has no clear dominant reading. This is not something we are trying to recreate in our music video but I really enjoy this style nevertheless.

Character Profile: Ruby

Ruby's character is a teenage girl who has trouble revealing her sexuality to her parents, which ends up being the catalyst for her departure as her strict conservative parents catch her out with another girl and confront her about it. She runs away from the business and hubbub of the city in order to clear her mind and come to terms with herself. She comes off as really anxious and confused throughout the video as she is conflicted on whether she wants to bend to the will of her parents for a simpler life or just feel happy and content expressing her true self. 

In the video we try to portray a silent a character arch for Ruby's character not only using her actions but other imagery intersected throughout the video and the lyrics of the song linked to images to signify a change. Hopefully we have done this in a way that is clear enough to an audience so they can understand the emotional and physical journey of both the characters. 

Filming Day 5

We have finally filmed the shots we needed to complete the video, all we have to do now are reshoots that Megan and I will film next Thursday and editing. We are on the final stretch to finishing.

Digipak Inspiration

For my digipak cover, I would like to toy with the idea of lights and shutter speed to create images. I took pictures as a tester for this and they turned out better than I expected. I would also like to stick with the idea of putting a fake band on the cover as well, most likely sat on a bench like the covers of Mumford and Sons' Babel. Or maybe just having the band and their instruments looking incredibly moody like the Sigh No More cover to go along with the indie themes. 

Digipak Ideas

I have created a mindmap of all my current digipak ideas. The main ideas I have are for "the band" to feature in it, and for it to have themes of nature and light. I would like to use natural colours and lighting in my pictures as opposed to black and white as even though many say everything looks better in black and white, I believe that the beauty of everything, mostly nature and people, is in their colour. I have sketched a rough idea of what I want the front of my digipak to look like however these ideas are still in development and can change at a whim.

Editing - Half Way There!

Four days of filming and hours of editing and we are half way there, all we have left to do is film the final shots at Alexandra Palace and get it all edited and perfect. However, I'm quite proud of what we have so far and I'm excited to complete it. 

Evaluation

Unlike last years evaluation, which had seven questions, the A2 evaluation only has four  still for 20 marks. However, for this years evaluation, as I have the experience of last year I can develop upon my presentation to gain as many marks as possible as I think a flaw in my evaluation last year was the way in which I presented did not illustrate knowledge of technology which was one of the main criteria. 

La La Land

What a way to start the year, with this beautiful, colourful, brilliant piece of art. Damien Chazelle hits it out of the park with this wonderful imagining of the American dream done so beautifully it will make you want to cry out of sheer joy.

Firstly, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling have such amazing chemistry it hurts, every time they look at each other you can tell that that is how someone who loves someone else looks at a person. Not only is their screen presence beautiful but their voices individually and together is just so inspiring and breath-taking and soothing you'll be glad to listen to the soundtrack, like I have been, on repeat from the moment the film ends.

Everything from the vibrant colours to the acting, directing and just awesome cinematography will make you want to do what you love. It makes you want to go out and make music, make a film, make art, just to make something. Something you can be proud of, that you can showcase. 

I really can't praise this film enough. Its success at the Golden Globes does not come into question after viewing because each and every one was totally deserved. Finally, watch this film, please! You cannot miss it and you won't want to.

Filming Day 4

Today my group filmed in Enfield Town Park with our two amateur actors, Mr and Mrs Goulding. It was a short shoot but we got Ruby's story line beginning complete and have now edited it into our music video. We did not run into many difficulties except for the fact that it was freezing cold, it was a smooth and fairly easy shoot. And now that this is complete we can move on to the final days of filming. 

Digipak: The Indie Genre

Usually, when indie bands such as 'The 1975' or 'Bon Iver' release digipaks they tend not to put images of the band and instead have a picture, vibrant colours and sometimes the band's logo. If the digipak does have an image of the band on it or just one band member it tends to be cartoonish or distorted. 

Another convention of indie digipaks simplistic, plain bold lettering in all capitals that clearly illustrate the title and the band like Bon Iver's Blood Bank digipak cover. However, some digipaks in the indie genre use peculiar and unusual font types to match the distorted image they use. 


The colour schemes of many digipaks vary from band to band, an example of this, are the digipaks below. They are both from the same genre but each cover has a completely different colour scheme. 'The 1975' uses a simplistic and classy black and white theme, whilst 'Bon Iver' had a muted orange colour scheme with a white border and font. However, in contrast to the muted or monochrome colours many indie digipak covers have vibrant colours to match with the themes of their music.