Evaluation: Question 4- How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

I have chosen to present this question in a Prezi presentation format. When pressing the link below you will be directed to the site.

Evaluation, Question 4 - PREZI

Evaluation: Question 3- What have you learned from audience feedback?

I asked 10 people from my target market the following questions based upon my music video and ancillary texts post viewing them. Below is a copy of the questionnaire I gave out and the responses given by those completed.

1. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being extremely clear, how clear is the storyline throughout my music video

I asked this question as I was concerned whether or not my narrative was clear throughout the video. It has helped me to gain information about how specific my storyline was and when asking those that answered my questionnaire, they said I could've improved it by having more loving gestures alongside the flowers. Yet they also congratulated how professional it looked considering the program I used and troubles I encountered. However after seeing these results with 6 people giving it 10/10, I am happy with the outcome. 

2. What is the genre of the artist?

Here it has been made obvious to me that the main genre people think my artist is, is indie and pop. As it is baroque pop, I am not too surprised that the target market are unaware of the genre baroque pop as it is not considered entirely popular. It is also often mistaken for indie genre therefore I do not believe it will affect the sales of the artist.

3. What is the genre of the song?

From these results it is clear that the same response has been given as the previous question whereby the majority believe it is indie genre. It is obvious that the song appears to be more indie and pop to the audience in comparison to the previous question.

4. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being very clear theme, do you see a consistent theme throughout my magazine advert and digipak?

Gladly, the audience I questioned believe that my theme is clear and consistent which is exactly what I was aiming for. The interviewed participants claimed that the 

5. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being very well, how well do my products compliment one another?

I am extremely pleased with the feedback I have received from my target market as you can see they believe there is a consistent theme throughout my products. This means that I have successfully created a star image and completed the necessary task. 

Below are the strengths and weaknesses left by those questioned.

One of the weaknesses stated to see more of the boy and girl together, however I disagree with this as my initial intention was to show the difference of their lives apart to appeal directly to the audience. By separating the two actors, it showed the different ways they wanted to impress one another, a bit like how teenagers in this day and age can relate to the stress of getting ready to meet their crush. Therefore, for this specific statement, I do not have any improvements which I could've made. 

The comments have displayed that from a retrospective response, the audience understood the narrative storyline conveying that they paid attention throughout. Relating directly to the comment left stating, "more shots of boy messing round", I did not want to display the character as too youthful as it would defeat the aspect of a role model whereby the audience look up to the artist. 

Furthermore, I agree with the participant who stated "maybe less busier backgrounds" as when taking the photos I did not consider how it would affect writing on top of the background in the editing process. This hence produced some troubles when editing however I believe I overcame them appropriately.

Below are the strengths and weaknesses of those questioned on the ancillary texts:



 Looking at the feedback of my ancillary texts, I can see clearly that the audience approve of the theme throughout the pieces which is something I am very pleased about. looking at the disadvantages, I am drawn to the comment left "you cannot read what is said on the lyrics page - needs to be made clearer." When looking back on this, I should've made the L in lyric booklet, more distinct as you cannot see the letter due to the background. Therefore the audience have to concentrate on it more than they would if they were just glancing at the digipak. Also, as said in my previous points, the text could've been more distinct on the page to hence make it easier to read as two participants have left comments about it being hard to read. I believe overall when reflecting on my texts, I should've used a less busier background for my ancillary texts however overall the main theme of metamorphosis is achieved at a successful, and professional standard.

How have others helped me with my audience feedback?

Throughout the process of production for my three media texts, I have been extremely lucky to have had a media class acting as members of my target demographic as their age fits inside my category. During the initial brainstorming, I have had the assistance from my class to encourage me to develop the ideas I had at the start, for instance, when researching to create my star identity, I asked my media class and teacher for feedback and advice, and this development of research helped me greatly. They suggested ideas such as incorporating both smart attire and casual to make it more relatable to an audience, as teen boys do not regularly wear a full suit. Furthermore, I asked my peers and teacher, questions focused on my ancillary texts specifically, mostly based on the colour scheme and if the text was clear to read post me adding a translucent box to make it easier to read. I realised that by asking my peers and teacher, I was able to see my products from someone else's perspective, as myself, as the designer, may not have noticed the difficulties in text size or colour as I am aware of the information and content necessary. I can also look back and think of how myself and my peers have assisted one another in the production of our products, for example, as an experienced student when using photoshop, I was able to pass this knowledge onto my peers to help them with their designing. Alongside this, others who had more practice with lip syncing, told me how to do this on occasions where I had difficulty. Additionally, with them being members of my target demographic, I was persistently checking with them that the aura my video and ancillary texts were portraying were accurate to my initial desires and targets. In retrospect, having my peers and teacher at quick contact in terms of giving opinions on my products, it helped dramatically with improving my products to ensure they were depicting my initial ideas.

I found the target market feedback extremely reassuring considering the problems I had encountered during the process of production. It has boosted my confidence in terms of how professional my products turned out and how well the artist star image was addressed. However, I have learnt that I could've possibly broadened my target market in terms of it not only being specific to teens, as a few of the 10 I asked were out of this range and gave beneficial feedback.

Evaluation: Question 2- Explain how your three products work together in symphony in terms of brand image projected

For this question, I chose to do a directors commentary. This can be seen below along with the attachment of my script for my commentary.

Evaluation: Question 1- In what ways does your media product use/develop/challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The genre conventions of a baroque pop/indie digipak consist of the artist being identified on the front of the cover. This is whether the artist is looking directly into the camera or elsewhere, usually relating directly to the artists star image - for instance, an artist with a confident persona will most likely look directly into the camera to imitate this. Usually with indie digipaks the artist shows some sign of surrealism which is somewhat shown in my front cover with the artist 'transforming' by using 3 existing images appearing surreal as 3 of the same artist does not exist. Furthermore, an indie digipak will consist of a lyric booklet or pack providing the consumer with information based on the content or artist. I have done this to fit with my conventions using an unfocused image as if he is being 'caught randomly' - an unplanned photo being taken. The back of the digipak tends to have a tracklist displaying the order of the songs which often appear surreal and unusual due to the names of the songs. I have attempted to follow this type of tracklist whilst thinking of songs I believe my artist would sing about. Often the images used across an indie digipak are unplanned and unfocused, which I have used partly in my photography as I also wanted to pursue the artist as confident in order to address his star image.

Within indie magazine adverts, I have analysed some previously in order to inspire me for my magazine advert. Looking back at my conventions, I have managed to successfully address the star image of the artist as powerful and confident yet mentioned in the conventions was an image which was central of the advert and perhaps not using direct eye contact. I developed this idea as I believe the audience would not have connected with the artist to the full potential without having eye contact, therefore I used this idea in contradiction to the typical convention. The album cover is identified on the magazine advert in order for the audience to relate the two products directly to one another. Conventions state that the title of the album is displayed within the image of the artist. Hence here 'metamorphosis' being the title, this is conveyed in the way the text is written around the artist, whilst transforming into a different colour and growing in size - hence what happens to my artist throughout this album. The name of the artist is identified largely across the top of the advert, which is also stated within the conventions therefore I have used this convention successfully. I believe the idea of metamorphosis and the idea of my artist transforming is well executed throughout my ancillary texts and music video.

My Final Magazine Advert

Below is a copy of my completed, final magazine advert.

My Magazine Advert

For my magazine advert, I had to ensure there was a clear relationship between this product and my digipak. This would allow a theme to be visible throughout, helping to address my star image directly. 

Firstly, I chose my original image. Out of the three images I had planned on choosing, I went with an image which was initially taken as a long shot. However, as I used a high quality Nikon camera, I was able to zoom into the image successfully without pixellation occurring. I added the hue and saturation to the image, to boost the colours and help the audience be more attracted to a bolder image. This was something I also did in my digipak to make sure a pattern is being made throughout my products. 

I ensured that the title of the album was highlighted clearly on the advert following the same colour scheme and pattern to enable there to be a link in design. Also with the artist's name, I made sure that it was the largest part of the advert as this would mean that the viewers and readers will see this name first. To enhance the lettering, I added a stroke effect on Photoshop as this meant it stood out against the busy background. The light pink to dark pink colour scheme was also used in the features of the advert, such as the "includes bonus features and special effects" as this further accentuated the common colour theme throughout my products. 

I traced around the sole image of the artist with the lassoo tool and by duplicating this layer to hence produce another copy of the artist alone, I was able to reduce the opacity of the greenery around the artist, to make the image less busy and have the audience focus more on the bold image of the artist. 

I chose an image which was bold, confident and youthful. This creates a relationship between the teenage target market and the artist as with the direct eye contact from the artist, it immediately informs the audience of his confidence and youthful nature. 

I included an image of my digipak as the main aim of the magazine advert is to persuade an audience to purchase it. I added an outer glow to the digipak image as this would make it stand out against the busy background and persuade the audience to look at the image first. By including an image of the album, it not only fits with my research of the conventions of a magazine advert, but also informs the audience of the appearance of the digipak, enabling them ease if desiring to purchase in store or online. Additionally, following the conventions of a magazine advert, I had to make sure the date of when the album was going to be released was clearly identified. Therefore, as the artists name is written in white and is also an important feature of the advert, I chose to colour the date in white also to highlight its importance.

Underneath of the release date, I included a star rating from Capital FM as this station plays songs of the same genre as my artist and would therefore appeal to my target market as a radio station they listen to. By quoting from Capital FM, it encourages an audience to purchase the item as the rating and comments given by a trustworthy source, improves the professionalism and reliability of this comment to hence persuade the market to buy the digipak.

At the base of the advert, I have included the line "AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE". This comment opens the product to a wider range of the public as it enables people who shop online and who shop in store, to purchase either way. This should encourage those of the target market, who are regular daily users of the internet, to purchase the digipak online in the comfort of their own home as it saves them going to the store.

In either corner of the base of the advert, I have put the Kitsune logo and the iTunes available logo. Firstly, I have used the Kitsune logo as this is what company my artist is signed to, therefore it is necessary that my audience are aware of this partnership as they may be fans of the company or be familiar with mutual baroque pop artists belonging to this record company. 

I had some difficulty choosing a font which was not too unique that it was too complicated to read, or it being too simple. Therefore I settled for a font called Steelfish, found on the website dafont.com which was clear to read and fit with my current fonts and themes.

After looking at the advert, I realised the base of the advert with the important information, couldn't be seen clearly. After experimenting with ways I could solve this issue including adding outer glow effects and outlines to the text, I decided on adding a transparent box to cover this writing. Post deciding on a solution, I chose the pink which matched that of the colour scheme which had been used in all of my products to hence draw attention to the theme I was aiming to address. It worked perfectly as you can see below, due to the fact you can still see the beneath image, see the text written and also how it fits in with the theme whilst not looking out of place. 

Magazine Advert Sketches

After choosing the top 3 images which I would be happy to use for my magazine advert. I began to sketch my ideas onto a page whereby I addressed the importance of certain information being on the advert. After looking at previous adverts in past research, it allowed me to feel confident in choosing the correct image and plan.

I realised that a magazine advert would have to be colourful to ensure that the readers are immediately attracted to the page to somewhat persuade them to purchase the digipak. 
Firstly, after looking at the conventions of a magazine advert, I knew the specific features I needed to add onto the advert. Therefore it was just a case of where abouts I put the information.
I began planning by looking at my original images and identifying that an extreme close up or close up would work best for the advert. This would produce a relationship between the readers and artist. Eye contact will enable the audience to feel like they personally know the artist which will hence increase the likelihood of them purchasing the product. 

Perhaps an extreme close up would be too off putting for readers as it could be "too in their face". Furthermore, I looked began to see where the titles should go and how large they should be. 

The most important information, the title, date release and artist name, needs to be bold, large and clear for an audience to be able to know the most important information. 

Original Magazine Advert Images

In order to produce a consistent theme throughout my products, I had to ensure the photos chosen for my artist were of the same nature. The clothing needs to be the same in both the magazine advert, digipak and video as this will produce a persistent theme to increase the star image of the artist. It needed to be a bold, confident image where the artist is preferably looking directly into the camera to create eye contact with the audience. Preferably I would like to choose a close up as this will allow my artist to connect closely with the audience.

Below are the options I had for my magazine advert:

How Language Can Address My Audience

Within my magazine advert and after looking at previous adverts of the same genre as mine and generally, I have realised there are several persuasive aspects of an advert.

1. In order for a market of teenagers to purchase the product, by adding an iTunes logo which allows the audience to purchase the product online, it is familiar to the market hence increasing the likelihood of buying the album
2. With encouraging language such as "BUY NOW" and "AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AND IN STORE" it not only opens the market to online users but also those who are not as familiar with the internet, to buy the album in store for the same price as online. 
3. Also with ratings and quotes from trustworthy companies, it improves the reliability of the comment being made to therefore encourage the audience that the product they are going to purchase is in fact '5 star'
4. Lastly, by stating "includes special features and bonus tracks", it shows the audience they are buying something and getting another feature of the album at a complimentary price.

Overall, it targets the market directly as if the advert is 'speaking to them' through forms of encouragement to persuade purchase of the product.

10 Conventions of a Magazine Advert

Above are 4 examples of magazine adverts. I will now analyse the conventions of a magazine advert by indicating the similar features throughout these 4 examples.

1. The magazine advert is in A4 and the majority of the surface area is taken up by an image of the artist. 
2. The images of the artist are bold and either contrast from the background or blend in with the same colour scheme and pattern.
3. ALL of the artists have a unique logo for their name further enhancing their artist identity. This could be something I use within both my magazine advert and my digipak cover. This logo/name is largely indicated which would most likely be seen from a distance. Additionally, the text stating the artists name needs to be the first thing the reader sees hence needing it to be bold and large.
4. The date of which the album will be released is stated in smaller lettering often towards the bottom of the advert.
5. An indication of one of their hit songs included within the album, persuading the reader to purchase it.
6. The colour scheme is continuous throughout with the font and colour remaining similar and clear consistently.
7. The record label is placed towards the bottom of the advert in rather small sizing.
8. Some adverts have a star rating from either a magazine or famous TV music channel such as MTV.
9. An image of the digipak/album is included on the front of the advert creating a pattern with both the colours and imagery also used in the albums aesthetic design.
10. A link to social network to find out more information on the album release or to link to the artists profile to promote their image

Feedback and Targets

In todays lesson, our teacher looked at the progress we had made in our ancillary texts. She noted down the improvements we could make in order to improve our products. She told me to experiment with a close up shot for my magazine advert as the camera I was using was of a high quality, also to use the same shifting and growing font I had used in my digipak to continue the theme. 

 

We were also given a sheet which listed the required blog posts in order to achieve the best grade possible. Below is a copy of my sheet, indicating the tasks I still needed to complete to help me become more organised. 

Final Digipak Net

Within todays lesson I managed to complete my digipak by putting all of the faces together. In order to make the net, I initially needed to convert my photoshop file to a jpeg, to do this I had to flatten the image by merging the layers into one. I did this to each side of the digipak in order to combine it into one to make the net. I imported these images onto an A3 page. 

In today's lesson I finished off my digipak and netted it together. I saved each individual psd as a jpeg to flatten all the layers into a high quality image. I then opened up a A3 sized photoshop page to put the four faces on. I imported the front and back cover jpegs onto the A3 sheet and placed them net to each other having the the font on the right and the back on the left. I then needed to import the two inner sides. Before I could place them onto the A3 side I needed to rotate them 180-degrees to make sure when the net is folded it looks like a proper digipak. Once I had rotated both of the inner sides I too placed them on the A3 side and slotted them above the front and back cover. Once all four sides were in the new sheet I was able to save again as a psd and a jpeg. Below are screenshots of the net all put together.

Analysing a Magazine Advert of my Genre

When researching and noted in previous blog posts, Florence and the Machine is illustrated as a baroque pop artist. To help me look into where I need to put the information on my magazine advert and what type of image I need to choose, I analysed an existing magazine advert from Florence and the Machine.

Digipak Progress

I went on to produce the rest of the back cover. I again accentuated the hue and saturation of this image to bring out the key colours in the original picture. I added a barcode to the bottom left corner of the album which would be scanned by a member of the target demographic, and take them to the video of Symbolic. The barcode as a form of advertisement adds to the use of technology in the 21st century, and how vital it is within my target markets lives. This hence intrigues the target demographic further into purchasing and showing interest in my products. I added a barcode as this is what is expected in a digipak after researching previous products. Looking at previous albums from the same record company as mine, I looked closely into the text written at the bottom of the album and replicated this to improve the professionalism of the digipak. Lastly, the price of the album is advertised distinctly beside the barcode as this is a main convention when producing a digipak.

Digipak Progress

Following the pattern throughout my digipak, I used the same fonts for both the title of the album and the artist name. This creates a consistent theme through all of my media products. The black slip in the image above represents where the lyric booklet is kept in snug. This has helped to achieve the main conventions within a digipak advert. Furthermore, the image I chose for the background needed to be a less serious, confident image contrasting from the previously chosen imagery in order to create a more light hearted aspect. This would hence accentuate the star image of my artist being not just confident, but also playful.

My Artist's Record Company

After much research into what record company my artist should be, I looked at other artist's record companies which were of the same genre - baroque pop.

The record company which appeared the most was called Kitsune. 
This company has recently signed a band called years and years who appear in the UK top 40 charts. Therefore, with this being the target for my artist, I realised this was a good company to go for to ensure my artist is successful. 

By using a record company which also signs baroque pop artists, hopefully members of my target market who are fans of this genre, will be open to listening to George Peachtree.

Digipak Progress

Today I added several more features to my digipak in order to increase the professionalism of the product.

I added a hue and saturation to all of the covers in order to boost the colour, especially in the interior of the artists coat. As the 3 images of the artist on the front cover were all in focus and clear, it did not match the theme of metamorphosis as successfully as it could. I made the central image of a lower opacity, and further reduced the opacity of the third image to make it almost invisible yet making sure it was still noticeable as this would draw away from this effect. 

To increase this effect, I added the filter 'wind' to both images in order to make out as if he was moving off the bench. This worked successfully adding this filter twice to the centre image, and 3 times to the last image. This made the image less hard to see which is what I wanted to achieve in order to make the audience focus on the initial starting image. I believe the way I wanted 'metamorphosis' to appear in not just the title but also the images have been extremely successful. Moreover this motif can now be included throughout all media products I will create. 
The font I chose for the artists name - George Peachtree, I wanted to make it look like the album had been personally signed by the artist. I had to ensure that the fonts used for this signature and the font used for the title of the digipak, complimented each other and did not distract the audience from paying attention to the main features. 

I began to edit the inner case for my digipal. Likewise with the front cover, I made the image have a stronger hue and saturation to accentuate the colours within the original image. To follow my theme, I used the same growing transformation of the title 'Metamorphosis' to follow the definition of this word as this is the motif thorough my products. The artists name also appears around the circular shape of the CD. This is again in the same style as the original font as this enhances the theme and star image of my artist. I followed an intense, detailed tutorial on how to produce the grass effect on my grass CD tray. By using a grass texture, it accentuated the importance of nature in my products as this again is a common theme in my work. Using an extreme close up for the background, the slight outer blur conveys how the main focus of this part of the digipak, is the inner tray for the CD. 

Digipak Progress

As in previous posts I had chosen my front and back covers, I proceeded to develop these by adding features to fit the conventions of a digipak using my previous research. 

As the title for my album is Metamorphosis, I looked closer into the definitions of this word to assist in developing the uniqueness of my title in the products as well as distinctly within the music video. As the word definition appeared - 

the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages

It showed me that I could use the morphing of lettering to address this choice of word further. By individually selecting each letter I tilted them to fit with an 'evolving' type typography pattern which developed into a 'grown up' (large sized) letter, in this case, 'S'. To further enhance this morphing motif, I used two colours - white and red/pink for the start and end letters, for the letters inbetween I showed the progress of getting from white to red. By using this feature, I have further intensified the importance of the word 'Metamorphosis' in terms of my products and artist. Hopefully, members of my target demographic will notice morphing into another character and developing as a person as part of the star identity of my artist.

Adding bevel and emboss to the letters in the title will encourage the audience to notice the title from afar.

The back cover I began to continue the theme of metamorphosis, by again writing each letter individually for the tracklist and changing its direction to show a 'tilting' effect. This worked successfully by choosing the same coloured font at the 'developed' end of my colour scheme. However, once completing this tracklist, I noticed how busy the background of my back cover was. This meant the text was hard to read on screen and consdering the conditions when printed, I believe it would be harder to read. 

To resolve this problem, I added a transparent beige box behind the text similar to the colour of the dark bricks in the scene in order to make the text more visible. By blurring the edges it allowed the box to blend into the background and reduce the risk of lacking professionalism when placing a blatant coloured box on the back of the cover. 

I proceeded to add an outer glow to the box in order to make it stand out against the background. This worked successfully in helping an audience focus solely on the tracklist without being distracted by the back scenery. By adding a bevel and emboss to the titles - TRACKLIST and BONUS TRACKS, it conveyed the break in the tracks, this separated these aspects hence making it less busy and clearer to read. 

Digipak Progress

In order to produce an original, unique digipak, I thought that producing my own logo for the artist to be used throughout media products would add to the star image. I initially drew out the lettering for the artists name, incorporating an image into the text to the 'T'. I attempted to use play on words as the name 'Peachtree' could be included in the logo to create more of relation between the logo and artist. As it would be used on different backgrounds I didn't decide on a specific colour for the text as this may restrict some editing when future products are needed. By adding effects such as bevel and emboss, stroke and a drop shadow, I was able to make the logo stand out against a busier background. 

Overall I decided against using the logo as when showing it to my target market it looked too childlike and I believe this may not look professional against the high quality imagery I will be using for my products. By doing this task I was able to see how I would like my text to appear on the products.

Below is the original font I produced for George Peachtree identity.

Progress of Digipak

Opposite is the image I have chosen for my BACK of the digipak. On this I will have the tracklist stating the songs included within the digipak itself and also a barcode. I will need to ensure the colour chosen for the text is clearly seen against the brick wall background. The use of a branch in the side of the shot corresponds with the autumnal setting within one specific music video - Symbolic. This creates a link and pattern further increasing the artists identity which is consistent in his choice of attire also. 

As this is the front of the digipak, I will have to add the title of the album which is METAMORPHOSIS and the artists name. the title is clearly illustrated throughout the 'changing' and 'development' of the artists movement. This suggests him morphing into another person or more realistically another emotion. This title fits in well with the theme of the songs entailed as symbolism is used throughout. 

Additionally, I may have to make the bench more central without having the third image go off the square outline.