Evaluation Question 4 (Part 2)

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

Here I have produced a short camtasia clip which shows you some of the techniques and processes that I went through in order to produce my music video and also my AS coursework piece. Firstly the software Final Cut Pro has allowed me to produce both coursework pieces with relative ease however I feel that you can see an obvious difference in quality between the two. The 'RGB balance' tool has been a predominant effect used in both my projects and what I love about it is the fact that it is so easy and simple to do but produces a massive difference in the aesthetic appeal of the footage - in my opinion this programme made me feel much more intune with the professional music industry as it is a software program which is often used with major labels and companies, so to have something that unique and effective at our fingertips was a real joy.

Evaluation Question 4

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

To answer part of this question I have produced a digipak which presents different forms of media products and software such as Photoshop and Indesign which I used in the construction of my digipak and poster advert.



Evaluation Question 3

What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

So therefore I feel that my music video has had a powerful impact upon my target audience but also connected with specific people who I did not intend to focus upon in my market area. The most significant point that I have taken away from my audience feedback is that even though putting a lot of artistic effects onto my footage took a very long time and was quite frustrating at times, in the end it seems to have been worth it as many different people commented on this aspect of my video. However I was quite surprised to receive such positive feedback about my music video, especially from young individuals as I thought when producing this video that there could be a risk of it not appealing to a younger audience, whilst it being shown against much more vibrant and energetic music videos.

Evaluation Question 2

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

With the general design of my digipak and poster advert I wanted to convey the delicate and feminine nature of my music video, therefore that is why I have incorporated many dull tones to suggest the sombre tone of the album and kept the layout of the information and aesthetic material to a minimal configuration. I felt that my research into other solo artist digipaks helped me gain a better understanding of what is visually striking and interesting and what does not seem to work, in my opinion. There were two main digipaks that stood out for me in design and also concept - firstly was one of Michael Buble's first albums which immediately intriguied me through the close up photograph of the male singer as the front cover, this gave the album a much more raw and stripped back appeal with the simplistic font style and the muted tones of blue and grey. The rest of the digipak as expected follows this general pattern with a few more photographs merged into the font, but I really like is the flawlass balance between images and text. The fact that the leaflet is not crammed full of information and uninspiring photographs means that the viewer can really focus upon the artistic appeal that is trying to be portrayed and also this provides connotations of sophistication and elegance - characteristics that are reflected within the artist. The second digipak that stood out for me was a recent release by Lana Del Rey. The striking initial image of this digipak immediately captures your attention and the unusual background of the image creates a predominant urban appeal. The fact that the artist is looking directly into the camera reflects the minimalistic design of the digipak and reinforces the unusual nature of the artist herself. What I love with this digipak is that it incorporates vibrant hints of colour which create visual interest and provide connotations of youth and energy, but it does not over use colour and therefore drown out the rest of the visual material.

From looking at both these digipaks I realised that I did not have to over complicate my digipak and advert design, if I simply focussed upon the essential factors and got them to a good enough standard then my work will have a professional and crisp appeal towards the public. Therefore that is why I have only incorporated a single photograph, the title and the artist's name into the design of my front cover because this seems to be the norm for modern day digipaks - it is simple yet effective. For this front page I have experimented with many different effects from the software program Photoshop, and this particular effect is called 'Bass Relief' which accentuates the dark tones within the image and provides a stronger visual contrast against the white background. The reason why I chose this image is because the unusual positioning of the artist emphasises the delicate and feminine nature of the album whilst creating a mysterious and elusive appeal towards the album. The rural setting of the photograph isolates the solo artist and creates intrigue - such as 'Where is she?' and 'What is she doing there?' whilst also providing a visual contrast against the youthful appeal of the artist against the muted and sombre environment that she is in. The font style I feel seems to personalise the album as it represents a common hand writing style, therefore this gives all of my ancillary texts a much more relaxed visual statement and yet again reflects the essence of the album. 

However from looking into the album booklets of Lana Del Rey and Jessie J I realised that even though their albums consist of simple ideas they still incorporated visual photographs of the artists into the composition of the album digipak to firstly showcase the artist in a positive light but also enforce the youthful appeal of their albums and even though my album goes against the norms of society I still wanted it to appeal to a more youthful audience. Therefore that is why I have dedicated an entire page of my digipak for simple photographs that display different aspects of my music video - this I feel reinforces the contrast between the exciting, urban environment of London against the quite nature of the countryside - which is what my video is all about. The plain black background highliughts the photographs and gives them a more 'punchy' and striking visual impact.I feel that the rest of my digipak follows the generic conventions of a modern day music video digipak - with it consisting of a lyric page which I managed to incorporate a brick wall effect background to try and reintroduce the urban aspect of my video concept, a back page consisting of the other songs of the album but I kept this quite muted and basic in design with a black background that is consistent with the other black photograph page earlier in the digipak. 


The main inspiration fro my digipak design is from another Adele album - '21'. The simplicity and design of the digipak exudes femininity and elegance which I have attempted to recreate in my own digipak through the soft tonal colours which I have used to accentuate certain aspects of its design. The font style that I have used I feel is the closest to representing the feminine appeal of Adele as an artist whilst still being innovative and visually interesting, however one aspect that I have altered is highlighting the first letters of the title 'TBR' as I feel this will make the album have a strong youthful appeal and also allows the title to 'roll off the tongue' more easily. The song that I chose to do for my music video is from Adele's first album '19' in which the song holds quite a lot of hidden meanings and emotions that are portrayed through the lyrics of the song, so therefore I have tried to incorporate these negative and sombre emotions into the design of my advert and digipak - for example by keeping its composition quite minimalist. 

Photoshop has allowed me to creatively alter many of my photographs that I have used in the design of my digipak and advert. I found that the colour alteration tool was a massive benefit for me as it easily allowed me to alter the mood and perceptive abilities of the image through a simple colour hue being added to the background of the image. Another effect that I commonly used was called 'Bad Film' which allowed me to add a 'scratchy' sequence on top of my footage to give its aesthetic appeal a much more aged and withered visual appearance, which is consistent with the theme of my music video. However from my first draft of my digipak I realised that I did not want to use a Photoshop effect on every single photograph as I felt that some images worked simply on their own without any interference from me. I am very pleased with my digipak and also my advert as I feel it is a strong addition towards my music video with its simple, yet visually effective design. I have constantly made various links between my video and my digipak through the incorporation of screenshots but also the same use of tonal colours and visual effects which helps unify all my project material together