This blog is now closed!

Final digipaks, magazine advert and music video

Front cover:

 Middle panels:

Back cover:

Magazine advert:

Music video:

Final evaluations

Final digipak desgin

This is the front cover of my digipak:

I chose to keep the same background as my magazine advert to maintain consistency and a "signature" design. The forest is shown in the music video "Half Remain" and has connotations of isolation, as well as nature which complements the theme of life. I decided to remove the image of the protagonist because I felt that the cover suited a more simple look. Also, the title has now been placed in the center of the album cover so that it is at eye-level viewing of the reader and more eye-catching. The font is also larger and is still the same as the one used on the magazine advert as it is now the "signature" font. Underneath is the album title. Both titles are capitalised which catches the reader's eye. I kept the parental advisory sign at the bottom of the cover which sets the target audience as being old enough to be able to purchase this sort of media. 


This is the back cover of my digipak:

The back cover of the digipak uses the colours black and white, matching the front cover. The font is the same as the front cover and also the magazine advert to maintain consistency. The track list is also in the same font, and in white colouring and capitalised. It is placed on the right hand side and clearly in front of the background image of the killer from the music video. The killer is placed on the left side. The image has been flipped horizontally so that it seems as though the killer is walking away from the track list, and away from the murder. The band's name is printed at the bottom to attract the reader's attention. In the top left is the record label company's name and their website printed in black colouring to distinguish the different companies, one being the record label and the other being the band's company.

These are the middle panels in my digipak:

The left side of the panel is where the CD is placed, and the right is an image of the killer featured in "Half Remain". Both panels are separated by the spine which states the album title. I chose to use the image of the killer again to emphasise the themes in the music video. The black and white filter maintain the consistency of the colour scheme used across the music video, the magazine advert and the digipak. It is also a convention of the rock genre which I incorporated into my own work. The image is simple yet demonstrates the predator looking for his prey, emphasising the strong narrative of our video. 

Magazine advert

I have finally created my magazine advert. Inspired by Kodaline and We Are The Ocean's tour date posters, I have based my own design on theirs including images from my music video which are iconic.

This is the finished product:

I decided to position the band's name at the very top of the advert so that it is eye catching. The iconic font is similar to the font used in the music video so that it becomes signature. Underneath I have added "with special guests" to emphasise the fact that the band are big enough to have supporting bands. I was inspired by Kodaline's tour date poster:

The image that I have used is significant to our music video as it is very relevant and important as it adheres to our narrative. I blurred the edges of the image so that it blended in with the background and was not so harsh. The background is the opening shot in our music video which is again, significant. I used a lot of these images also in my digipaks so that there is consistency throughout all three products (digipak, music video and magazine advert) which connects the three products together as well as adding to the professionalism. 

The list of tour dates are printed 3/4 down the page in the same font as the band title. This list is clearly marked with "April 2015" printed at the top and then the dates beneath, next to the place and its location. I was inspired by We Are The Ocean's tour dates because they are not a massively well known band so their locations are local and small, which is what I wanted:

The colour palette I used are greys and blacks and whites which conform to the "dark" colouring used in the rock genre. This is scene in most rock adverts such as Paramore, Enter Shikari and Lower Than Atlantis. The colours also match the palette in the music video. I will also include these colours in my digipak for consistency. 

Finally, at the very bottom of my magazine advert I have included a website which most magazine adverts include for self-promotion and access to more information. On the right hand side I have included a record label which I made up. The name suits the theme of the genre and is basic, which most record labels are anyway. I  have also included an "iTunes available" label so fans know where to purchase the music, and also a code where they can scan their phones to get more information. 

Digipak

My first draft of my digipak:

 The front cover consists of the same background of my magazine advert which was originally taken from the beginning of our music video.  I was inspired by a front cover of a digipak I saw online:

I liked the dark colour palette which I incorporated into my front cover. The black and white image at the front conforms to the monotone colours used in the rock genre. I also liked the idea of having the band title's name printed at the top in bold letters so that it is eye catching with the album title printed underneath in the same font and colour. I added a "Parental Advisory Explicit Content" image at the right bottom to warm the audience about the content. 

Evaluation Question 2 - main product & ancillary tasks

EVALUATION QUESTION 2:

QUESTION 2 PLAN:

Evaluation Question 4 - technologies

EVALUATION QUESTION 4:

QUESTION 4 PLAN:

Digipak first draft!

This was my first draft of my digipak:

I chose to keep the same background as my magazine advert to maintain consistency and a "signature" design. The forest is shown in the music video "Half Remain" and has connotations of isolation, as well as nature which complements the theme of life. The image in the middle of the album is of the protagonist of the music video which relates to Richard Dyer's theory of star quality image, something my group and I decided to refer to when producing our final product. The colour of the image is similar to the background and is a convention of the rock genre where many of their advertisements including their music video is shot and then edited into a black and white filter. The band name is printed at the very top of the album cover; the font is the same as the one used on the magazine advert as this font is the band's "signature" font. Underneath is the album title. Both titles are capitalised which catches the reader's eye. At the bottom is the parental advisory sign which sets the target audience as being old enough to be able to purchase this sort of media. 

The front cover was inspired by this:

Before creating my digipak, I searched online for examples of digipaks from the rock genre. I liked this particular design because it is simple yet effective as the font is eye catching and I liked the placement of the image in the centre of the album cover. I liked how the band's name is printed in large and how the album title is beneath it - the same length but smaller font. I tried replicated this onto my own digipak cover but adding a little bit of originality.

Evaluation question 1 - codes and conventions

EVALUATION QUESTION 1:



QUESTION PLAN:

Evaluation Question 3 - audience feedback

We have completed our question three of the evaluation based on audience feedback where we combined all our feedback into one:

Showcase vlog

After the showcase, my group and I filmed our response to the feedback we received after handing out forms to the audience.

This is a photo of one of the forms we received which we found to be very useful.

Here is the vlog:

Music video completed

This is our final product!!

Magazine advert analysis

I chose a number of magazine adverts featuring rock bands such as You Me At Six, Enter Shikari and Kodaline to evaluate how these artists use symbolic images, fonts, colour palette and mise-en-scene to either conform or subvert from the rock genre.

You Me At Six:

Enter Shikari:

Kodaline:

Digipak cover ideas

I have been doing some thinking about the design on my digipak, both cover and back. I also did some research into album cover designs of the rock culture and analysed the conventions that were both conformed to and subverted from. 

The Bronx

The Bronx are an American hardcore punk band. Their album cover design for their third album titled The Bronx (III) subverts from the conventions of rock bands. 

Their album cover consists of two birds edited in a spiral shape. This reminds me more of a sci-fi theme than rock, however, the harsh colours of black and white against the pink conforms to the rock genre. The band's title is clearly marked in front of a black background for emphasis. 

I would like to incorporate this design on my own digipak with maybe images of the "protagonist" of our music video as the main attraction. I also considered using the trees constantly seen in the video, as a background. I think this design is very original and interesting and the bright colours caught my eye, which is something I want for my design. 

Haerts

Haerts are an American indie pop band and their album titled "All For You" caught my eye as it is simple and basic, yet effective.

The front cover of their album is shown on the left. It consists of a colour palette of greys, purples and whites which is very conforming of the indie genre. It also displays an image of a naked person from behind which may represent the exposure of emotions, which is something implied in their lyrics. The band's name is sprawled at the very top of the cover and looks as though it as been written on with a white board marker. Underneath the band's title is the word "hemiplegia" which is the paralysis of one side of the body. This can explain the reason there is a line drawn in the middle of the cover, halving the body, thus illustrating the paralysis on one side of the body. On the right is an image of the back cover which simply consists of the song titles listed in basic font. 

This design interested me because although it is simple, it is very interesting to look at, especially at the image directly positioned in the middle of the framing. I would like to incorporate this into my digipak design, possibly on the back cover with the song titles printed over it. 

Lower Than Atlantis

Lower Than Atlantis are a four piece alternative rock band from Hertfordshire, UK. 

Their newest album titled "Lower Than Atlantis" consists of a pink background which subverts from the usual colour scheme of black and white for the rock genre. In front of the background are the four band members, with the lead singer being closer to the camera than the others. This conforms to the star quality image theory proposed by Richard Dyer. There are two different fonts used which is effective because it creates diversity contrasting with the simplicity of the design. The name "Atlantis" originates from a fictional island from Plato's works. The font suits the idea of Atlantis being an island as the wavy font resembles waves. 

I like the idea of the band members being used on the front cover as it conforms to the rock genre. I am considering incorporating this onto my dijipack cover with my group members and I lined up. I think the background should be a faint image of the trees featured frequently in the music video as it ties the album cover with the video. The image I would be using is from our opening of our video:

Instead of the writing, there would be an image of the band members. The band's title and album title would be at the top in bold white writing so that it is bright against the dull background.

Audience feedback

I constructed a questionnaire in which contained questions regarding music genre and conventions. I also included questions about my personal music video. I used a series of different platforms to do so; 

1) My media class watched our video and then wrote down on paper "WWW" (what went well) and "EBI". We took the advice from the feedback and made sure to make those changes in our video where we felt appropriate. We also filmed a group vlog explaining in more detail how useful the feedback from our classmates was:

The questions asked were: 

2) I showed my family members my music video and then gave them a series of questions in which they answered. I then put the data on a table for easy access. 

All three agreed that music videos should include originality and I believe that that is something my music video does not lack. Personally, I think artists such as Lady Gaga have become much more successful by being 'different' not only in appearance wise, but career wise, also. 

(image from her music video of "Bad Romance")

3) I also sent the questions to friends using social networking sites such as Facebook:

The majority of our feedback suggests that some shots may be a little too repetitive and although this is a common convention in music videos, I feel that other shots may be more suitable. Another suggestion made apparent by feedback is that the transitions need to be made smoother, which is something we have adapted to our video since.

Overall, this exercise was very useful and my group and I have used the feedback to improve our final product.

Our video so far, and changes

The changes that my group and I have made so far have benefited us and our music video as now, after receiving both positive and negative audience feedback, we have adjusted and changed the content and concept. 

Firstly, the shots of past and present were not that clear so as well as using a fade transition, we also changed the filter of the past shots (romantic filter) we also adjusted the colouring palette to black and white, and enhanced the brightness. 

This shot consists of the back of the "man" which is relevant in our concept because we wanted the "killer" to remain anonymous until the very end of the music video. 

Secondly, we added another shot of myself lip syncing, however, decided to not include the eyes and the majority of the face as we wanted to adhere to the anonymity of the people in the video. We also included this shot throughout the video as most music videos include repetition.

Thirdly, we decided to include the shot where the murder actually happens. However, we wanted to subvert from the cliché murder scenes, and instead we made it as discreet yet apparent as possible. We also edited to the beat, which is a convention used a lot in the rock genre. 

However, after receiving negative audience feedback, we realised that it may not be apparent enough so we went out and filmed another shot of a rock being dropped on the ground. This may be cliché but we feel like we could make it work, if we edited it to the beat and didn't make a big deal of it. The shot includes a close-up which is a convention of music videos in general.

We also included over-laying shots in our music video as we feel this is very effective. It could also represent the period of time in which it takes the spirit to appear. 

Different angles of lip synching

Performance is a common aspect in rock videos however, we didn't want to include instruments or any performance except for lip synching. We used different angles to film this so that it was more appealing:

The black and white shots show that they are in the past.

The harsh colouring defines the 'dead' body.

We used the filter "Romantic" to give it a softer focus.

Editing

Today, Charlotte and I decided to edit our footage in the media room. We are currently editing the intro of our song, and finding it challenging to match our shots with the beats of the song. However, this is something we will include nonetheless as it a convention that most music videos conform.

  

Shooting schedule

We created a shooting schedule so we can plan ahead and set a date for each day we will need to film. We will only need three separate days - one of them including another actor to play our killer. We made a list of props that we will need, and also listed the locations we will need to film on.