Tuesday 29 January 2013

Making Ancillary Products

Below I have created a slideshow, showing how I made my ancillary products; digipak, album poster and tour poster. It clearly shows the processes I have gone through and with brief reasonings why I including what I did.

Saturday 26 January 2013

Digipak Plan



















Above is a rough hand drawn plan for my digipak. By doing the plan, I am easily able to see where everything goes on each of the panels, helping to make the creation of my digipak quicker as I can just work from my plan. Also, it allows me to clearly see whether it would work well together and allows me to roughly show my ideas to my target audiene to see whether they feel it would be successful or not.

Thursday 24 January 2013

Editing Digipak Cover

Here are some different ideas for my Digipak front cover. I have edited the image on photoshop, experimenting with lots of different effects.
Artistic Effect:
I think this one looks okay, I like how the background is blurred helping to make Jonny stand out more. I have put a brushstroke effect on the image, I think this makes it quite unique and different. However, I found that not many alternative rock covers have an artistic effect and therefore it would mean my cover goes against the ordinary conventions. I feel that the artistic effect sort of makes his face look a bit distorted and it is not as bold and clear as I feel it should be.
Blurred Effect:
I think that the blurred effect looks quite eye catching as it makes the artist really stand out from the background. He comes across as being very clear and bold. However, after getting some feedback about all the different ideas, people felt that he looked as if I have cut around him and then placed him on the background. I didn't like this fact and therefore felt that I would go back to the original non-blurry brick wall background.




Lightened Effect:
This cover is the brightest out of them all, it stands out due to the brightness of the image. I think it is fairly eye catching and like how his face is clearly lit up. His facial expression helps to really draw people in and the lighting helps to achieve this even more. After getting feedback about this cover, I found out from my target audience that they believed it was a bit too bright. They felt the colours should be bolder as at the moment they looked a bit washed out.



Sharp, Bold Effect:
I really like how bold and clear this image is. It stands out a lot and I believe it is successful in attract the target audience. The sharpness of the image helps to make Jonny stand out more and I feel that his facial expression really helps to draw people in. After speaking to my target audience, the majority believed that this cover was the best. They believed it was strong and is the most appealing. Therefore, I have chosen to pick this cover for my digipak.


Tuesday 22 January 2013

Feedback from classes

Today I showed our video to some classes in the lower school, year 11's, 10's, 9's and 8's. It was very useful to me and I was given some very good feedback from them. I found it very benificial to do as they were very honest about their opinions and simply said what they think worked and what they think didn't. Because they havent seen our video before, I was able to simply see what they initially thought of it. It was nice to be able to see people watch the video, to see whether they were engaged to watch it, and then to hear their different opinions about it. Below are some of their opinions on our video:
Yr 9,10,11:
Positives
- appealing because actors are a similar age and they have all attended Kings School
- like the fact it is all based locally (Sidmouth/Ottery/Exmouth), helping it to promote Devon well
- very clear storyline, which interested most of the class
- made some of the class want to get in a relationship so they can be like Jess and Tom
- someone stated "it is a lot better than I expected, I did not expect it to be that good"
Negatives
- storyline is only clear if you watch the video right from beginning to end
- bit confusing at the beginning
Yr 8:
Positives
- could clearly tell the storyline when asked what it was about
- like all the different locations around Devon
- thought the guitar shots were good and liked how it was comparing their two lives
- thought it evokes emotion well, making people feel sorry for Jonny
- when asked, the majority said they would watch it again
- someone said it is something that you would see on TV
Negatives
- thought that the singing could've been more believeable as you could tell he was lip syncing
-  some of the yr 8 boys said it didn't appeal to them due to the fact it was about love

Sunday 20 January 2013

Final Video

Here is our final music video. We made some slight changes to our rough cut, including brightness and contrast of some shot and slight changes to the timings. We are pleased with our video and think it is succesful. It suits the genre well and the variation of the different shots helps to make it interesting for viewers. 

Friday 18 January 2013

Facebook Feedback

After getting feedback from our class, I thought it would be useful to find out what even more other people thought. In order to achieve this, I put youtube link of our video on facebook. By doing this, I can easily access my target audience of teenagers between around 14-20. People can easily view the video and 'like' and 'comment' if they wish. From doing this, we were able to get some very useful feedback. As you can see, people had lots of different opinions about features they liked about our piece. Many people felt sorry for Jonny after watching the video, something that we initally aimed to do. Also, they believed the video flowed well and liked the fact that the video adheres to the song lyrics.

Wednesday 16 January 2013

Ancillary Sketches


Here I have drawn some rough hand drawn sketches of what I aim for my product to look like. This enables me to develop my ideas as I get an idea as to what my products may look like. It also helps to make the creation of the documents quicker as I am able to use my rough sketches as a guidline. Also, I am able to show my plans to my target audience before starting with creating them so that I know whether my products would be appealing to them or not.

Tuesday 15 January 2013

Feedback from rough cut

We decided to show our class the video to see what they think of it, they come under the target audience of the video, so it is important that we gain some of their opinions to see whether the video is successful or not. The feedback that we got was that people felt the song was very emotive; the video made them feel sorry for Jonny through the use of the dull weather and the different shots comparing their two new lives. Viewers were able to relate to Jonny and watching the video may make them personally reflect on their past relationship experiences. They also liked the clear storyline of the video, it adheres to the lyrics well and has a very strong narrative. The variation of the different shot angles of him playing guitar and the little bits of lip syncing seemed to work well. The contrasted bit of Jess and Tom running to the beach also stood out to them, it was quite different and eye catching. The ending of the video of Jonny walking away was successful, they think it worked well and was a good way to end the video. Finally, the feedback that we got was very useful for us, we were able to get lots of different peoples opinions about it. Next, we are going to go on to make some slight changes to finalise the final music video.

Saturday 12 January 2013

Chosen Images for Ancillary Products

Here are my chosen images for my product: album cover, album poster and tour poster. I am going to jusify my reason of choice below:
Album Cover:
This image stood out to me as Jonny is looking directly at the camera and I felt that his eyes really help to draw viewers in. I liked the fact he is holding the guitar, helping to make a connection with the music video. From this. it helps to make the genre more recognisable and helps to create a house style in order to link all of my products together. He is wearing the same coat as he wear when walking in the rain in our video, this helps to show the connection between the them. Also. in a part of the video where Jonny is walking around the streets in the rain, you can see the brick walls in the background behing, again helping to link the products well.
Album Magazine Poster:                                                                    
Again, the strong eye contact in this image is successful in attracting people attention and drawing them in to reading the poster. The image is similar to the above one, they are taken in the same location but just from different camera angles. I felt that by using a different shot for the poster, it helps to make all the products more varied and interesting. I feel that the similarity of the two shots works well in linking the products and showing the connection between them. I think that his facial expression in this shot is really successful, especially his eyes, and I feel that our target audience of teenage girls will be really attracted to it.
Tour Poster:                                                                                               This is the chosen image that I have decided to use for the tour poster. I chose this image as again it is similar to the others, allowing people to easily make a connection between all of the products. He is holding the guitar again, helping to connote that he is really into his music. Also, there is the connection of the brick walls in each of the images. This image allows me to have room to write all the tour dates, which is important. The text needs to be easy to read, so using this image means that I can clearly write all the text on the wall. He is not looking at the camera in this image, however I don't feel that this is necessary for the tour poster as I want people to be attracted to the text.
                                                                                                 

Friday 11 January 2013

Promotional Package

In the following slidshare presentation below I have looked at ways in which Lawson promoted the debut album 'Chapman Square'. I have deconstructed a number of their products such as album cover, tour poster, and tracklist etc to help me to gain ideas for my promotional products that I am going to create for our single. By doing this I have been able to gain a number of different ideas, and have been able to research some of the typical convention that I can consider using. After doing this, I have decided that the promotional products that I wish to create for the ancillary tasks inlcude a digipak, album poster and a tour poster.

Thursday 10 January 2013

Music Video Rough Cut

Here is a rough cut of our music video, we have put all the shots together, added transitions between them and altered the timings. We are going to ask our target audience for feedback on our video, this will enable us to find out what people think of it, and whether there are any improvements that others think should be made to the video.
 

Wednesday 9 January 2013

Photoshoot of Jonny

After recieving feedback about my initial image ideas, I decided it would be benificial to take some more images. I decided to take lots of images from different positions and angles so that I could use them for my didgipak and magazine posters. In the majority of the image, Jonny is holding the guitar. I think this is important as it helps to link it to the videos and it also is a way to help connote the genre of music. I took the images in Ottery down by the river, this helps to show the natural environment which is common feature in Alternative Rock products. Within the background of the images you can see how I have included the natural setting such as trees, leaves, brick walls, and stone  walls etc.
 

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Editing our music video


We carried out all of our editing for the music video on iMovie. I have previously used this software so had some basic experience on the main features. We enjoyed the editing process of the video and feel that it has gone well. From creating the video, I have been able to gain lots of new skills, which will become helpful for me in the future. Editing the movie is important, it is important that the shots within the video flow well and that we edit on the beat on the song. In this post, I am going to briefly explain some of the editing processes we carried out on the video.



To begin, we had to import all of our filming footage into iMovie. We had to watch through it all and sort through which shots we think looked best, and dragged them into a new iMovie project. Using our storyboard for guidance, we ordered the shots relating them to the lyrics of the song. We imported the song, 'A Rocket to The Moon - Like We Used To', enabling us to edit on the beat.  

We added a title sequence to the beginning of the video, we made it so it has a black background with white font. The contrasting colour makes it extremely clear and easy for viewers to read. In order for us to make the video flow well and not just jump from one shot to another, we decided to add some video transitions. The transistions that we have used in the video include: cross dissolve, cross blur and fade to black. We used the cross dissolve transition when the shots link to each other, this helps to show that they are related and helps to make the image change more smoothly. We used the cross blur on shots that weren't related, for example when it goes from Jess and Tom to Jonny. I believed that this helped to show that the shots aren't related and it is a way of clearly contrasted Jonnys' and Jess' new lives. At the end of the video when Jonny is walking away from the camera, we used a fade to black transition. I believe that the ending works well and it makes it link to the beginning of the video with the black title credit.


On some of the shots, we also decided to edit the exposure/brightness/contrast/saturation. This enabled us to make certain shots stand out more and to make them more appealing. Because our filming was carried out in the winter months it wasn't particulary that sunny, therefore to overcome this we were able to edit the shots so they looked brighter. The beach shot is one on particular that was adjusted. Also, some of the shots of Jonny going to Jess' house were slightly dark due to the weather and therefore we could easily alter this too.

We also had to edit the speed of some of our shots, this was to ensure that it fits with the beat of the music. We made a few of the clips slightly slower motion: the couple throwing leaves and the couple dancing in the house. By doing this, it helped the shots to fit better and also is helpful in making the video more varied. It is also helping to show how couple the couple are together, and is clearly showing all the good times they have had together.

Researching Digipaks and Magazine Promotions

After doing some research about how existing artists successfully promote their new singles/albums, I have found that now many artists are using DigiPaks instead of just an ordinary CD. Digipaks typically consist of a paperboard or card stock outer binding, with one or more plastic trays capable of holding a CD. I feel that by creating a Digipak it will appeal more to the target audience as not only will they be getting a CD album, they will get artists info, lyrics and more images of the artist. The image to the left shows two examples of artist digipaks; Olly Murs, and Pink. I like how it allows you to include more images and I think this is something which particulary would make it stand out more to me than an ordinary CD cover. Digipaks were originally only seen as limited edition or specialist CD products, however due to improvements in CD production and packaging printing techniques it has meant that this sleek CD packaging solution is now available at much lower quantities and at much lower prices.
This is a layout of a digipak, it consists of 6 different panels, by creating one of these I feel our target audience of teenage girls would be more attracted to it, as they may feel they are getting more for their money. It is important that when I come to creating my digipak, I ensure that it has a consistent house style. I feel that if each panel is different, it would look all random and less professional. Therefore, to gain more ideas, I am going to deconstruct an existing Digipaks to see how they have made each panel link and the type of things they have included.

As well as creating a DigiPak to promote the song, I am also going to make magazine promotions. I am planning on doing one to promote the single 'Like We Used To' and also a tour poster to promote the artist, Jonny. All products have to relate to each other and have the same house style, this will help to show people that they link. I could do this by using similar fonts, image effects and colours. Cross-promotion could be done on the products, for example on the image to the right, The Script have used their tour poster to help promote their album too by including a small image in the bottom left. This is benificial for artists as it helps to cut costs rather than having loads of different promotions. I am going to now go on to deconstruct some more magazine promotion posters and then start with the creation of my products.

Monday 7 January 2013

Initial Album Cover Image Ideas...

Here are some different image ideas for my album cover. I have experimented with editing the images on photoshop, trying out different photo filters and adjusting different image settings. I am going to get opinions from others about the covers to find out whether they think any of the images would be successful. Below I have briefly written about the positive and negative aspects people thought about each of the images:


Positives:
-links to the video well as its the same field he plays the guitar in
-natural background which relates to the convention of alternative rock covers
-inlcusion of guitar helps to show the genre
-jonny fills the frame and stands out

Negatives:
-jumper has superdry logo on it, branding is not usually used as it is promoting something else
-he is not looking at the camera so isn't really drawing viewers in


Positives:
-has a sepia type tone to it which makes it seem natural
-the sea in the background links to the locations in our video
-the inclusion of the guitar helps to show the genre of music

Negatives:
-jonny is positioned at a slight angle so the shot is not directly straight on
-there is nothing that really stands out and encourages you to pick up the album cover



Positives:
-the shot is quite different/unique which could make it stand out
-has a natural background as is shot in the field that we filmed Jonny playing guitar in
-the images fills the shot, it is clear and strong
-theninclusion of the guitar again helps to show the genre

Negatives:
-it is not that appealing to the target audience as he is wearing jeans with his legs covered up
-there is nothing that really attracts the target audience and will encourage them to pick it up

Positives:
-strong eye contact helps to attract the viewer well
-sepia tone to it, helps to make it look more natural
-it has an artistic affect to it, is quite unique and different
-blurred background helps to make jonny stand out more

Negatives:
-genre may not be easily recognizable
-need to cut around the image slightly better when blurring the background out as I have blurred his nose slightly




Sunday 6 January 2013

Editing Images


Editing images from Kaylee1234
Above is a presentation I made explaining briefly how I edited my images. I editted them all on Photoshop, a software I am fairly exprienced in. I used lots of different features to change the images and make them have a different effect to it.

Saturday 5 January 2013

Filming - 05/01/13

We carried out filming on all of our actors today from about 10 till 4. To begin, we carried out the bed scene, the lighting for this was well and the shots were as expected. We experimented more with the scene where the couple are under the covers and felt it helps to show the connection between the couple well. Next, we went back to the field where Jonny plays the guitar, and carried out a few more shots, in order to create consistency he sat in the same place in the same field. We then headed down to Sidmouth beach where we experimented with taking more images for our anciliary products. We tried taking images of the couple and Jonny individually and then with all the actors in the shot. Finally, we went to Lauras house and filmed Jonny walking to the house to ask Jess to get back with him. Originally we had planned for this scene to be shot when it is raining, however the weather was not as expected. We planned to use the weather to create a dull and sad atmosphere, so because it didn't rain we tried to get Jonny acting more sad and upset to clearly show his feelings. We feel that today was successful and the time was used wisely.

Friday 4 January 2013

Initial Album Cover Plans

I have created some sketches showing some of my ideas for my album cover. It allows me to roughly see what it will look like. From this, I will go on to edit some images and see whether any of them work well as an album cover.

Thursday 3 January 2013

Filming - 03/01/13

Today we carried out some filming from around 10-3 of the couple, Jess and Tom. To begin, we went to woodbury common, where we filmed them enjoying themselves in the woods, throwing leaves, climbing up banks etc. The lighting was okay and we managed to get some succeful footage as well as some images of the couple. We then went on to Exmouth and carried out some shots of Jess and Tom on the dunes, playing around in the sea and walking along the beach. The problem we encountered was that there was lots of people about, this meant we had to sit and wait for a clear bit of beach, which did waste a bit of time. The sun did come out slightly during filming, helping to brighten up the shots and make the atmosphere nicer. Again, we took lots of images to consider using for our anciliary products.