EVALUATION

For my A2 practical portfolio I was asked to choose one brief with which I was to work through to create a full project for coursework. The brief I decided upon was to create a music promotion video along with two ancillary texts in the form of a magazine advert, and a digi-pak design which would contain the single itself, along with the video on DVD, to promote the release of the product. When choosing our briefs we were also given the choice as to whether to work in groups or individually. I chose to work individually so that I could express my ideas and creativity without any restrictions, and so that I could take credit for all the pre and post production work.  The journey through this year was a lot more complex than creating my AS portfolio, but I definitely feel that the skills I learned last year were put to good use this year as I continued to progress through my studies in media furthermore. When browsing other peoples videos and subsidiary products at the end, I felt like my promo video was a lot different from that of my fellow classmates work. Therefore I intend to answer the questions given to me below to allow you to understand why I chose to make certain decisions and where my inspiration and ideas came from to create something that I feel stands out from others.

When given the briefs for our projects it was clear that the products we were to produce were not just experimental versions of what we deem to be acceptable to a college standard. These products were meant to be produced to replicate the real media in as best detail as possible so that each one of us could learn as much about the field we were working in as possible. So logically I thought that the best way to get a thorough insight into my particular field would be to do some background research about the music industry to see what I would potentially be competing against in the real world. I therefore obtained some information about the history of music videos, when they first came into real use and who were the people who primarily used this idea to promote musicians through their careers. After this I then analysed artists videos which fell into to the same genre as the one in which I was targeting towards so that I could gain any inspiration or ideas from current products. This turned out to be a great decision as the videos that inspired me allowed me to create something that is contemporary, modern and challenging to my particular target audience. As part of my textual analysis I looked deeply into the conventions and codes of Bon Iver's Wolf video which really motivated me to create something that wasn't a stereotypical promotion video. Due to my own personal taste in music I didn't want to create a corny pop video with people dancing or a huge complicated narrative to the video because I wouldn't have been able to create something that looked professional with the budget I had to work with. Therefore I had a think about videos I had seen that caught my attention, and Bon Iver was one of them. I thought that seen as I was part of my own target audience I should create something that I would deem to be a successful promotional strategy, so that this way I could be certain I was ticking the right boxes in the forms of current conventions of the media.  

My final product follows and develops the conventions of the real media in many ways. The most obvious would be its visually contemporary artistic form of video. Unlike typical music videos, my video to Kettering challenges the stereotypical elements of a modern promo product. The video contains no performance narrative. My whole concept for the video was for the visual to relay the state of mind of the artist as he sings the song. As the song's about his lover dying of cancer I wanted the protagonist in the video to remain unrecognisable, as if the disease has completely stripped her of all being and identity. As for the technical codes within the production of the video I used a variety of camera movements to try and add a sense of hallucination and insane perspective on things. For example I used a hand held camera with no accompanying tripod or dolly so that the natural movement of my body could flow through the camera as I myself travelled the route I wanted to film.




As the song is in a depressive state I wanted to bring in the possibilities of drugs and alcohol being in effect whilst filming. Therefore the unsteady and juddery movements of the camera represent this, as he struggles to each reality through the distressing event of her slow death. I used cross dissolved at a steady pace to represent blinking through the state of mind , or the dream moving on in progression. The dark roads filmed within the car were to represent the dark road to death, and again the idea of insanity - the artist not being able to see his own path inf  ont of him and not knowing where he is heading. The atmosphere of quite cynical journeying was produced through this too. At one point I merged two frames together, both from the same point in the road, but from different times in the day, so that the light can be seen through the fade of the darkness. This was meant to signify memories of what has been and then reality on what is, connotating hope and the contrast of life and death and the fact that the cancer is dominating and taking over the only light left ahead. I used the zoom towards the sign post too, as the light was reflecting off the surface creating an unrecognisable blur it was like the light at the end of the tunnel finally coming towards reality. I then juxtaposed this with a quick straight cut to the character standing eyes closed being quickly morphed by a bright light as the end of the verse formed the chorus. The further travelling after this was again to signify her journey to death itself, with the hedge hiding the sun with moments where the light beams through the gaps in the branches.



The effects that I put onto some of the slides was a filter called Maxtrox Old Movie. I loved the way the film jumped and there was grain all over the image as it complimented my idea of memories, looking back at the times where his lover was healthy and full of live and playing them over in his head like his own personal memory theatre. I used close up tracking shots of trees and water to show the texture and shapes of his surroundings as he battles with the idea of nature taking the life of his love. Small clips to introduce the character at the beginning allowed me to add effects like lens flares to carry on that use of purposefully placed light to show the taking of a life. I used still shots to try and get into the mind of the artist, and when I was carrying my camera around looking for locations that would be suitable to film I picked areas that I think would make a mad who has lost his mind stare, like the breaking of water on the shore or the light sparkling on the water ripples. These were then contrasted with the over saturated colours of the protagonist moving around a forested area. I thought this location would fit the hint of narrative perfectly as although the woods are enclosed by all the trees huge beams of light are pouring through the top. I thought that using frames with mixed connotations could engage the viewer more, as they can interpret the situation how they like depending on what state of mind they themselves are in. And I think this worked as I wanted the video to be more about an experience, something that will make you think rather than just to sit back and enjoy as I feel that to me, that is what makes an interesting creation of artwork, not just a media product. 


Close ups of the leaves and the wood were added to give a sense of inquisitiveness as if the artist is questioning his surroundings and looking for an answer as to why this is happening to him. I took the idea of using a flash light to pan through areas of shrubbery at night from the Bon Iver video to again back up this idea of feeling lost and looking for an answer as to why nature can appear so beautiful yet do such evil things to humans. In terms of real media I used certain conventions through the editing such as the cut of frames to the beat of the music to add a rhythm and pace to the visuals. Slow motion and repeated frames to makes a quick juddering picture altered these paces so that it didn't have a steady flow, again complimenting the state of mind concept and the state of hallucinating. The frames of the girl in the woods shows her ducking and manoeuvring through and around branches to signify life's hurdles that she's has to tackle, the fact that she's still constantly fighting for a safe route out. One of the frames at the end is the camera pointed up towards the tree tops spinning round to represent the need of an escape from his emotions, and the end tracking shots of the female show her walking away from the camera, as if the time has finally come and she can't hold resist death any more. One of my favourite frames is part of the closing sequence, as you just see the girls hand touching the rock but all that can bee seen along with it is a dark shadow, as if she's taking deaths hand in hers after its constantly followed her around everywhere and now she's following it. This is then followed by the light of the road fading into dark and water pouring through the girls hands as if her life is finally slipping away.


Conventions which are similar are the use of angled shots and cross dissolves, tracking and still shots allow the audience to experience the music along with the emotions which are portrayed through the lyrics. Although it's not the artist himself with the band singing its a contemporary out take on the experience and story of the song.In the real media it would challenge artists of the same genre who wish to take the same sort of out take on their music, which is not about getting the faces of the band recognised, but the listeners fully appreciating the music along with a creative visual to help them enjoy the experience more.

In terms of the ancillary texts the magazine advert and the digi-pak design have been created with the same concept as my video. I wanted the character to appear quite angelic but facing away from the camera as to create a hint of mystery and to represent the start of a journey. For the cover I used a beautiful shot of natural movement away from the camera. I think the light coming through the trees makes it feel quite magical and there's quite a feel of innocence to the image. I used a scripted font to make it look like the artist  has written it them self, adding a personal touch to the packaging as if more thought has been put into it. I carried the image through the packaging of the forest and the sun beam so that none of it looked out of place and the colours blended together without clashing and looking unprofessional. For the inside panels I used stills from the video of the branches to again represent the different branches of emotion and concepts that are involved within the music.I used a simple filter on the Adobe photo-shop to warm the colours on all the panels to give it a little ageing touch and to make the colours seem appealing and full of life. I kept the layout really minimalistic like the Sigur Ros album I analysed as I wanted the print to be more photographic than informative. I kept the black outline round the branch stills to connotate a film real, this proved useful as I entered the bands web address into the black space and it ended up looking really smart. I used modern abbreviation on the back to add a touch of quirkiness to the text, replacing the word 'at' with the symbol @.

The magazine advert pretty much followed the same codes as the CD cover as I used the same type of image, with the female facing away from the camera shielding her identity. The light makes a beautiful spectrum of colours throughout the image and a natural lens flare can be seen at the bottom of the page making a really attractive picture to look at. I used the same handwritten font and kept the page clean and minimalistic again. The poster challenged other media by demanding the audience to pre-order now, implying that the music is worth buying. The web address is then given at the bottom as do all adverts of this day and age as the internet is such a popular source of communication. I think that the advert would look great in a magazine such as NME or Q as it again brings a contemporary feel to the alternative/indie genre.

I feel like my products combine successfully to to represent the concepts which I wanted to portray through the music itself. As the video was a contemporary take on the musical qualities of the artist, I wanted to again use this contemporary theme in the subsidary projects. I thought that seeing as though I hadn't featured the artists in the video, I wouldn't feature them in the ancillary texts, to give a little hint of mystery and make the audience more interested into what the music is going to sound like. I know for a fact that when I see a picture of a band or an artist I automatically pre-judge as to what the music will sound like, and usually if people don't like the look of an artist then they won't bother to give the music a listen. Therefore leaving the band unseen could potentially invite my audience in more to give the music a try and then make their decision, rather then being put off immediately by the look of the band.

In terms of working well together I tried to match the warm colours of the frames in which the girl is present in the video to the pictures in my subsidary texts. Although I have used some stills from the video (the branches) for my digi-pak I wanted to veer away from using too many, as this could potentially make the whole set boring as the images would be seen over and over again and the audience may think that the producers haven't put much effort into the design. This lead to to take a few pictures on the same day as my filming with my friends professional nikon camera. I didn't want the pictures to look staged or poor quality so I took a few spontaneous shots whilst my cast member was moving around to allow natural movement to flow through the images. I was incredibally lucky that the weather was so intense with sunshine that day as the reflecting light created natural lens flares and the beams of the sun came through the trees creating images that I felt extremely happy with. I wanted the light to reflect the qualities of life and make the character appear angelic so that the audience has no idea about the journey the song will take them on. In a way the ancillary products act as a contrast juxtaposition for some of the dark qualities in the video, but the textures of the images used in both the video and the extra texts combine to represent my contempory take on my project. In my opinion they flow together to show my artistic appraoch to the task and at the same time still carry my theme, alternative genre and concepts of my project. Also because the images are simular in colour and character it would also bring recognition to the audience as if they have been attracted to the magazine advert and then later see the CD in a store they could immediately familiarise themselves with the product, making promotion easier for the artist.  

Through carrying out my research into an audience questionnare I feel like I obtained a sturdy amount of feedback to take ideas from. To get the most diverse feedback I could I devised the questionnaire to contain sixteen quesions to do with a few major aspects of the music industry to get a good insight into the field I was working with. Questions contained multiple choice answers, singular choice, and a couple allowed the participants to write their own opinion to the question, allowing a free reign of thought. The multiple questions allowed me to see what my target audience, and out of interest, older generations, preferred within the world of music from festivals to music genres and to specifically promo videos. This allowed me to look at the feedback and see what types of areas to avoid and which to develop in order to produce the most successful product I could which would be able to compete against real media. It also gave me a chance to challenge my audience as when I asked what genres were preferred RnB, pop and indie were the most chosen. Therefore this motivated me to create something that could please these people as well as the people who already like the type of music I chose. It also showed me the increase in using file sharing to aquire music, therefore I knew that I had to create something really appealing in my ancillary products to persuade people to buy the music rather than downloading it off the internet. This is where I realised that if my products were artistic and not typical performance themes then people would be more likely to appreciate the images and then potentially buy to use for their own leisure. I know that when I, myself, am browsing CD's it's the artistic and quirky packaged ones that attract me the most. I wanted the magazine advert to be something that people would rip out of their magazines and put on their wall simply because they liked the image as this would mean that the owner themselves is potentially promoting within their own home.

 When making my video I constantly kept my log book at hand and whilst editing and putting my frames together I asked my teachers and classmates if my decisions looked good and what I could do to improve elements of my video. I then wrote these down and continued to work on them right until the finished product. Instead of putting another questionairre on my blog which I thought would have bored my participants seeing as though I had already made them carry one out for me, I just asked them face to face to see their personal reaction to the visuals and to get some honest feedback and then again, jotted this down in my log. When looking at the results from my questionnaire i created a few graphs on Microsoft excel to get a good visual view about the prefrences of my participants. It also allowed me to use different sources of technology to show my skills through the research. Altogether it made me really aware about the specific area I was working in, what to avoid and what to take advantage of in able to successfully promote my product. 




Obviously the most useful piece of technology to me was the internet. It allowed me to search for my research topics such as the history of music promotion videos through websites such as wikipedia and search engines like google. Also the website youtube let me search for current media products and analyse them as part of my textual analysis research. If I was ever stuck for inspiration I could always log on and search for videos and adverts that could give me some ideas to motivate myself to carry on. It also allowed me to have the modern codes and conventions of todays real media at hand all the time. Programmes such as Microsoft excel allowed me to produce pie, bar and donut charts to get a clear visual idea about the results from my audience feedback. The programme that I used to edit and manipulate my images for my subsidary projects was Adobe Photoshop CS4 which enabled me to use a variety of effects and filters to really enhance my pictures. Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 was the editing application I used to edit my promotion video. As well as working to piece my sequence together it also acted as an editing station to add effects and adjust colour levels to get the best quality for my video. As for the evaluating, blogger was really the main application that I used to keep log of all my progress and to order my planning and pre and post production work. Although I had used blogger last year to track my progress, I definitely feel that this year I have become a lot more confident using the source to get the most out of my portfolio work.


Altogether I think that my products are a successful attempt at creating a promo video, along with developed promotional products to help the sell of the artists production. I think that I have reached my target audience of approxiamtely 16 - 35 who are interested in the alternative/indie genre. The representations of the concepts I wanted to include in my video were successfully shown through my use of coventions and codes. If i had to improve one thing it would be the quality of the images and I would probably include more narrative next time to make it even more interesting.

MAGAZINE FINAL PRODUCT

Here is the final product for my magazine advert...

MAGAZINE ADVERT IDEAS AND PLANNING

After looking at other artists magazine covers I decided to grab a few pictures that I had taken before and whilst filming my video and see what I could do to make them into adverts. Just like my digipak I used Adobe Photoshop CS4 to edit the colour, contrast and brightness levels to get the best visual effects I could. Here are a few of my favourite attempts...

Although I love the colours of the picture taken at the foreshore, all the blue and grey tones, I think that the forest shots flow the best along with the digipak and video.

SUBSIDARY PRODUCT 2 - MAGAZINE ADVERT

Moving onto my final assignment for my chosen brief I now have to take my ideas from my previous projects to create an advertisement for the release of the digipak which would ne featured in a popular music magazine. Current brands that could potentially use my advert, in terms of genre, would be NME, Q, and MOJO as they have covered mass promotional features for artists within my genre such as Radiohead, Tom Yorke and Sigur Ros. As I did with the planning for my digipak I've done some research into the types of adverts that are currently being used for promotion today to, again, see what inspiration and ideas I can gain from them.

This is the first advert that I came across when browsing for examples on someones Tumblr account for Laura Marling's 'Cross your fingers / Crawled out of the sea CD. I like the fact that, istead of having a stereotypical advert of the artist herself, an illustration has been created especially for the product to add variety and creativity to the promotion. Looking at the detail of the image it appears to be more a work of art than just a standard photograph and I think that this would work effectively in attracting a target audience in a more modern way. The centre of the visual is dominated by an outline of a man, athough elements have been added to tie it into the background of leaves and a general sense of nature. The hands for example have been adapted so that the fingers leak out into vines or routes and the heart has been replaced as a flower in orange, coordinating with the colour of the artsist name. I predict that in this case the image represents the meanings which are portrayed through the music as on first appearance looks random and irrelevant to a typical music advert. I love the idea of an underlying meaning within this visual sense and will definately consider making my own artwork for the advert, although it would be a lot less time consuming to create something through a softwear programme. I'd assume in this case aswell that the advert matches the cover of the actual CD itself whereas I think that I'd like something that ties in with the running theme of my digipak but that still holds its own sense of creativity. As pointed out before, the coordinating theme of the colour within the centre of the image and the writing works wonders in this advert and although in some cases could potentially look quite boring i think that it works well with the whole image. The font is also something that catches the eye at first glance - beautifully scripted handwriting which adds another touch of personalness to the page as it's as if the artist has written it herself. And even though this probably isn't the case, I still think it's a good idea to use! The angles and the flowing of the letters ties in well with the shapes and lines within the illustration, making the visual come together. The information underneath the name contains words that sell to an audience such as 'exclusive' to make the audience feel that what they are about to purchase is something that not many people will have. An address for the artsist is given for further information and the imperative sentance 'buy now!' will push the viewer to finally purchase.

This is the most recent advert for Babyshambles 'OH: what a lovely tour' live concert gigs that are given on DVD and CD. The layout for this advert is noticeably different from Laura Marling's as it's whole demeanour is from a completely different style. The dark blood red coming through from the background is certainly eyecatching. The page looks old with it puposefully constructed aged effects round the edges of the page as if the paper has been creased and well worn before being scanned. The design around the edge is a nice touch to the layout and again makes the advert feel like its from a time way before now. I think that the whole well-known image of the band influenced this idea of being well worn with a whole conspiricy based around the idea of an indie rock and roll image and the constant use of drugs and alcohol. The typical font for the name of the artsist is used on all albums and so is again used here to create familiararity to the audience. However black is used again for the smaller print and in this case doesnt appear to be too legible against the dark background. 'OUT NOW' is emphasised to again push the target audience into purchasing the product but other than this not much information about the promotion is given at all. The track names are shown which are contained on the CD's but appart from that no real use of linguistic persuasion is used. It's as if the band are so confident that people will buy their products that they don't feel the need to add anymore information, as if their many fans are so dedicated that any sellable item they promote will be snatched up straight away. The bands website is posted right at the bottom of the page underneath a symbol which, although is isn't too visable on here, is probably the manufactuing company or the record label.

Finally here is another recent advert for Panic! at the disco's 'Pretty Odd' album release. Overall again the advert really is a work of art to look at. The outer layer of the image appears to be an old vintage televsion in which the artists name and information are situated. The design in the CD looks like something from a western circus theme which perhaps insinuated a theatrical side to the bands music. The font of the name is something which strikes the viewer immediately as every letter holds a different colour or pattern. On first glance too the name just looks like it says PANIC DISCO, although when looked closely at 'at the' in slotted vertically in between the words to immitate the exclamtion mark which is typically used within the name. I think that this is a great feature about the advert as it seems like so much thought and effort has gone into the desgin and the layout to make the viewers really enjoy the experience of just looking at it. It almost suggest that if the advert can be that creative, intense and enjoyable, the music must be something else, or at least something worth listening to. The shapes and patters within the letters to are again within a western american theme with cow prints typical caligraphory of the time and location. The font of the album title also shows again connotations of the circus as it looks like it's situated on a banner in bold shadowed writing. This contrasts against the vintage printed flowers in the center of the television on which all the writing is placed upon. Thinking about the design in more depth, the album title 'Pretty Odd' sums up the layout and the ideas within the images which could well likely be intentional. The writing underneath is in clear white writing, capitalising its realese information to show the importance of the event. This is also a promotion for the 'limited edtion' version which will persuade the audience into buying a version which is the most deluxe version they can get, rather than just the box-standard album like everyone else. Once more the web address is given, which I think is a religious element of advertising for this generation due to the popularity of the internet. In fact the adrdress is shown twice, once as a reference to the deluxe version with the added store link at the end to take the viewer straight to the source of purchasing the product instead of having to look for it themselves, and then again in small print at the bottom for just the bands site.

DIGIPAK FINAL PRODUCT

This is the final version of my digipak design for my artist's promotional video and single...

DIGIPAK PLANNING & EDITING

After carrying out my research into the types of typical conventions and design layouts for digipaks and CD covers I now need to start bringing together ideas of my own. Because most of the packaging I looked at had a running theme throughout the panels I knew that I needed to create something that would flow through the product and look well put together. Therefore to make sure that it was relevant to the actual video product I decided to use stills from the video to make into the imagery on the digipak.Here are a few test edits and ideas that I've thrown together to see if I can get a good visual grasp on the images I want to use. 

 Here's one of the first images that I thought could potentially work as a cover image. I edited the images in Adobe Photoshop CS4 to get the best selection of filters and facilities that I could use to make the pictures as effective as possible. I love this image as there's a lot of darkness leaving amounts of mystery. I kept in the grain and the flickering from the actual video for added effect and then over exposed the picture, and then raised the contrast and the brightness to create this kind of washed out effect within the colours. As I took the image from a print screen of the actual video the sharpness or just the overall quality is very poor but I think this adds to the effect of authenticity and age in the image and would work quite well as a cover for the package. However due to the particularly high contrast between light and dark it would be difficult to find other images that would tie in with this effect and I don't want the cover to be ridiculously different from the other panels. I will continue to experiment with the picture though to see if it can be used. 

This is a picture I took on my friends Nikon D5000 SLR at the foreshore in ferriby. The weather was perfect for my filming and so thought that I'd take a few separate pictures as ideas / inspiration for my promotional strategies. To edit I added a film grain filter and then again over exposed to create an almost angelic feel to the atmosphere of the image. The grain just gives it a little more detailed texture which I thought would make the image look a little more interesting. The pose of the character is very natural and spontaneous as I took it as she was moving into position for my film. With the arms lifting for balance I think it looks like quite a soft movement with the girl looking down as if she's perhaps going to jump into the water. To me it adds a sense of mystery which is a theme I wanted to run through the medium as it was all based upon the artists state of mind. I also quickly added a test title onto the corner as well to try out some fonts and see what I could do with the text. I particularly like the hand writing fonts which make it look as though the artists have written it on themselves, making the packaging more personal.

CONVENTIONS OF CD COVERS

When researching CD front covers it's clear that there are certain conventions that are always or normally placed on the packing as promotional factors. The most obvious are the following and are present in most producers promotional strategy:

Artists name // The name of the band or solo artist is probably the most important element of the cover for obvious reasons as the audience need to know who the CD belongs to and if they are specifically looking for it the name needs to be visable shown. Most names are usually bold to make the name stand out on the front, however some may use the main image as the strongest visual point. I will clearly need to decide whether I want the title or the picture to be the main focus.

Title of the song //  This is obviously another important element to ensure the audience know what they're buying. This will have to be clear to the viewers on the cover to ensure that it's clear what is being promoted.

Main image // This will be the main factor that will make the CD stand out from it's fellow competators. It should be something unique and original that draws its target audience in to look closer and show interest. As part of the digipak it should also be an image that flows fluently through the packaging to ensure that none of the panels look out of place or poorly made.

On the back of the packaging the following elements are again typical elements that are included:


Name of Artist / Title of song // Again this is placed to ensure the buyer knows exactly what they're about to purchase without being mislead by false advertising. The song is usually accompanied by the length of the track in brackets to give the buyers an idea about the produce they're buying. Occassionally too there is a live version of the song to give the audience more variation and choice as some people would prefer to hear a live recorded version of the song to

appreciate the quality of the music.


Name of producers / manufacturer / record label // This will verify that what the buyer is purchasing is of professionl standard and not a copy. It also gives the audience further information about the band and it's history if they wished to find out more about them. As my digipak has 6 panels however, not just the 2 of a typical jewel case, I could potentially chose to place this information on one of the other sides so that the outer design can remain minimalistic and allow the image to be seen clearly.


Barcode // Although this may have been something that was typically placed on the back of the CD cover I think that it's rare that one is placed on a digipak. In stores such as HMV I noticed that the recent CD covers are sold with an outer layer of thin plastic wrapping which contains the price of the product and the barcode to save the packaging have to put one on themselves. Digipaks especially tend to follow this packaging process in the shops so I doubt that i'll insert one into the design layout.

CD COVERS RESEARCH

Here I've done a bit of research to get a good idea about the sorts of covers artists within my alternative genre have used to promote their products. I think this range of genre produce the most artistic and creative images and art work for their products to steer away from the typical pop scene where the band or artist are shown on the front. I, myself, prefer this approach more as it's more my taste and so will attempt to find some inspiration from other current artists. 

This is the album cover for Sigur Ros's Heim album. I love this cover and have the actual edition of it at home. The imagery of the front cover shown here is spread right through the fold out cover, much like the digipak I'm creating but only a 4 panel. The image is a high contrast frame of a hill leading to a forest with some sort of metal poles sticking out the ground. The image looks like it's been taken on an old over exposed polaroid which is what gives it it's authentic touch. The sharpness of the outlines appears to be in a soft focus which diminishes harshness from the solid shapes within it. One of my favourite elements of this cover is the face that the artist and the album name look like they have been drawn straight onto the cover in pencil which gives a really  authentic feel to it. The writing looks rushed and adds further simple hints of creativity to the design. Also it looks like the colour temperature has been reduced to create this cold blue effect on the image which effectively makes it quite chilling to look at. As for added effect O particularly like the purposely added damage look to the side of the image which looks like the developer has been touched before it's dry, along with the thumb print on the bottom right. It makes the package look old and worn and I think that's what makes the whole thing so appealing to view. The image its self isn't even anything in particular, its the colours and the tones that make it so effective and I doubt that the image has much to do with the connotations of the album either. I think this producer has gone more for the feel of the packaging perhaps what you feel whilst looking at the image is meant to represent the core of the music itself, maybe a slight feeling of isolation and emotion through something which looks very basic on the surface, but which is, in fact, shrouded with a deeper meaning. I think that this will be the main inspiration for my own digipak as this concept ties in well with the artist I have chosen to use for my main text. Both bands are quite instrumental and extremely emotive in their lyrics. Producing an image like this would benefit the sinister side to the track and as it's about the artists wife dying of cancer something such as this could potentially explore the emotion and atmosphere of the song itself. 

The other image to the right is of the back of the CD which acts as another cover seen as the pack contains 2 versions of the album, (one live and one pre-recorded) I love this image too as it brings such a sense of mystery to the viewer it's hard to actually tell what's going on in the frame. It appears to me that it's a cafe full of people moving about but looking closer to it I think it could be the image of 1 person moving around the space and then just photographed in motion to make it appear like more than 1 is there as the shadowing blur travel around the room. In the centre of the room tables are viable upon which teapots and some cups and the outlines of old antique chairs can be picked out through the shadows. The colours are warm and again, over exposed to give it an antique / worn feeling. However looking at the back wall an exit sign is visible, which is reasonably modern and sticks out from the contemporary feel of the room. This could perhaps give connotations of escapism and the feeling of wanting to run away from emotion or a situation. What sticks out the most though is the microphone placed close to the camera just off the centre of the frame. It's an old looking piece of equipment and to me adds a sense of reality to the theme of the artist. It's like they have taken something extremely ordinary and everyday but put their stamp on it, or could perhaps indicate a personal journey, from once working in a cafe to now touring the world in their band, or perhaps it could represent home, with figures coming and going and the door so open for people to walk freely away, but always having music as an escapism instead of using that door. The whole designs of the packaging give indicate that the outer layers aren't the most important thing about being a musician, it's actually about the music its self that makes a successful artist.

 Here's the cover for Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. It's a cover that I love again for it's simplicity and artistic approach to promotion. The main image is a tree scene, bold black through a high contrast but then the rest of the image has been distorted so that only the top of the tree can be seen. It looks like some kind of glue or melted down plastic has been spread over the image and then scratched and manipulated round the edges. This sense of mystery could again be compared to the concept of Sigur Ros's cover, it's the music that's important. The distortion almost looks like frosted glass placed over the picture so that half of it is blocked out. In fact the image could represent looking out a frosted window outside to the scenery. The outside of the cover hold a solid black border just around the top right corner. This allows the darkness of the tree to sink into the outer layer which makes the visual flow together. The font of the artist is much more simple than that of Sigur Ros's too. It looks like an adjustment of Times New Roman, in a soft light brown colour. This is then contrasted with the hand-written font of the album name in a pure white colour which matched the cold sky of the image below. I love the use of this type of font, I think it makes the cover look a touch more personal, as if the artist has written it himself. 

 

RESEARCHING DIGIPAK DESIGNS

To get a good idea about the designs and layouts that are currently on the market I used the search engine Google to try and find some existing digipaks which I could perhaps take inspiration from. The artists who the packaging belongs to may not be within the same genre category as mine, but hopefully I can use some of the creative ideas that I have managed to find.

This is the digipak design for a rock band called Distorture and the albums name is Revere. What's so striking about this design is the strong use of bold contrasting colour on the front which would be the first thing that the potential buyer would see. The streak of red which is striped down the right hand side of the cover divides what looks like a symbol for the band or just a piece of constructed illustration. It's interesting how this band of colour also divides up the name of the band with torture being situated in the red section giving emphasis and also brings connotations of blood, death and perhaps love. Turning onto the back of the packaging which would probably be the second thing that the viewer would see appears quite shocking as a hand of blood dominates the space on the back. This indicates, to me, that the music is extremely emotional and heavy as it's a very powerful image to display on a packaging. The track listing is present on the back but other than that the layout is very minimalistic. opening up the packing the striking images are run right the way through the panels, with more pictures of blood filled hands are spread across the section.Although I find the images quite disturbing, which is probably which they aim to make their audience feel, I like the fact that the images run through the panels so that the colours and the pictures flow all the way through.I also like the idea that it's more graphic than bombarded with writing and information, I think this is what my particular audience would enjoy to see pictures more than words.However I don't like the face that the design is only based around two specific colours as I think it gets a bit boring to look at and doesn't appear to be particularly creative. I want mine to be full of colour and tones from my actual video. 

This is the packaging for Faerie Archives, a Canadian instrumental band. Although this is an 8 panel layout I love the design that runs fluently through it. The front cover is warm green colour covered in detail which looks like a fairy tale story book, more than likely to compliment the name of the band and the use of their music, perhaps used in films and such. The image in the centre is a mystical looking lady playing a harp, again showing what the music is like and what it contains. The editing in the image again looks like the typical magical fairy theme with little figures hovering around the main character. The title of the band is written in the story book theme with lots of detail and an eye catching soft yellowey/gold colour.There's also what's meant to look like piece of parchment nailed onto the cover which holds some of the artists information which I think is a brilliant idea as it really gives a touch of artistic ideas. Even though not all of the inside can be seen in this image as I couldn't find a better picture to post, it's visible that the inside follows exactly the same theme. Parchment looking backgrounds with what could be either stories or further information about the artist with pictures and illustrations to make it really interesting to look at. This is a great idea to make the packaging more hands on, and that the buyer can take time to appreciate not just the music but the extra effort made to let the audience enjoy the experience of purchasing it more. 

Finally this is the packaging for acoustic singer and songwriter Kevin Click from South America. I don't really like the image on the front cover as it seems so simple yet effective. The heart made of petals is slightly cliche in a love story sense but I like the fact that there's a crack coming from the corner of the cover, its adding a bit more thought and creativity to the design. The background colour is like a stone texture which works quite well to make the overall feel quite artistic. The font which is used for the name is quite peculiar as the Click looks more like a horror movie style to me, although the flick of the N makes it really feminine - the suspected target audience for this artist. Inside the panels appear to be a gradient red/orange, more than likely to give off connotations of love and lust etc. What I really don't like is that there seems to be a lot of writing inside that's in blocks of white fonr which to me looks really unprofessional and unnecessary. What's also quite disappointing is the fact that the whole panel on which the CD is situated is just exactly the same as the cover which suggests that not a lot of thought has gone into making the packaging unique and appealing. 

SUBSIDARY PRODUCT 1 - DIGIPAK

Now that I have a main product, the promo video for Kettering, I need to create a digipak layout for the CD and the DVD to be cased and promoted in. This will enable the artists to be publicised in the high street shops and gain further recognition and therefore a larger success in the business.Th package consists of 6 main sides in which I'll have to design myself, these will be the cover,the back, the first inside flap and the inner, the 2 backgrounds behind where the disks are kept, and then finally the additional spine of the case. The digipak was create to modernise and develop the Jewel case and is a gate-fold paper-board or card stock outer binding with one or more plastic trays attached to hold the contents. Digipak is a registered trademark of AGI media, a MeadWestvaco inc resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Goup inc in 2000. A typical example of a digipak would be this for the bad OASIS...

MAIN PRODUCT - THE HORNS - 'KETTERING'

DRAFT EDITS // TESTS // FIRST CUTS

To enhance the visual qualities of my video I uploaded my frames onto Adobe Premier Pro 1.5 so that I could edit not only the sequence of the shots but also the filters ontop of the frames to change a variety of things. These were the colour and contrast levels, brightness, shadowing and highlighting. Adobe also has its own effects collection given through a selection of Matrox video enhancers which allow certain filters to be placed on top of the frames.

This is one of the first bits of editing I attempted on the Adobe programme as I thought that it would be quite a simple solution to making the colour and the contrast better. The first panning movement that is shown was recorded primarily, with the colours of the surroundings coming through in the background. Although I liked the focus on the frame, with the closer branches in the sharpest focus and the background slightly blurred I thought that all the colours actually seemed to merge together. I wanted somethng that looked a bit more fresh and interesting; so I had a look around at the location of closed in forest and noticed that where the sky was viable inbetween the branches the twigs were making unusual patterns. Upon this I zoomed in as close as I could get to the bark to get the best detail and then filmed along the natural shapes of the branches. Even without editing the contrast the difference between the clear white sky and the dark wood was definately appealing, but I decided just to increase it that little bit more to make the edges and the boldness slightly more intense.  





This was one of the most successfull editing processes that I used to really enhance the colours and the mood of the visual aspects within the video. The fact that I managed to catch the river Humber in such a facinating state was lucky enough but the sparkling effect that comes off the water was mesmorsing to film. When watching the unedited version I was asked numerous times if I had added an effect to make the water look like this so I was proud to say that I hadn't! As my whole theme throughout the video was to portray a state of mind through quite an unstable mental state I wanted the colours to be intense and bright to represent this cross beween a slight fantasy and reality. Obviously I didnt want this to be the case throughout the whole film as I wanted variation and that touch of reality through the aspects of surroundings and nature such as the branch frame above. To brighten the colours in this way I used a Matrox 'colour corrections' filter and then within this applied a 'washed out 60's film' effect.

SHOOTING SCHEDUAL

To keep on track of my progress I'm going to try and keep to a tight schedual of filming by planning out the following dates:

16th December/ 12pm-3pm - forest clips at the Country Park. (providing weather is of desired state)....completed as schedualed

20th December/ 9am-12pm - foreshore clips (depending on weather, again)....completed as schedualed

21st December/ 10om-11pm -  driving scenes from the car down Dale Road / movement with flashlight (trees / forest areas) ....completed as schedualed

3rd January/ 5:30pm-6pm - sunset from the car down Great Gutter Lane (both directions of road) ...completed as schedualed

5th January/ 1pm- 2pm - close-ups remaining shots of the character... completed as schedualed

7th January/ 3pm-4pm - remaining close ups of scenery in daylight (tree tops/fields/textures)...completed as schedualed

HEALTH & SAFETY

hrough the production of my film the health and safety of all the people involved is majorly imortant, especially seen as my product is meant to be as close to professionalism as possible. Therefore precautions will have to be taken in order to make sure that no one is at risk of any harm at any given time. Although there is only one cast member in the prodcution it's still essential that she and myself are aware of any dangers that may occur whilst filming.

Factors that are the most obvious to me are the following:

-Caution taken at the foreshore // rocks could be potentially very slipping and could cause a fall whilst manovering across the location. Objects on the beach could also cause danger such as glass bottles / sharp stones / and general disposed waste. As my character is getting as close to the waters edge as possible it's also important that care is taken to check for any holes or soft ground which couls cause further injury.

-Visibility // whilst shooting the night frames it's extremely important that I'm visable to any on coming traffic as I will be filming footage by the side of a quiet road. I also need to check that there is no obstruction in the road from the parked car or my equipment that could cause a potential crash. As I am using a bright flashlight in order to create the effects in my footage I need to make sure that this is switched off when traffic occurs so that a distraction is not given to the driver.

-Privacy // some of my shots are going to be shot at the Country Park, a popular public destination so whilst filming there I need to check that passers by are aware of my actions and as any staff nearby if my work is okay to be shot there. If so it's vital that visitors do not feel violated or intruded upon my by work and so I will attempt to stay out of the way of the public eye.

ANIMATIC VIDEO

Now that I'm pretty confident about the ideas I want to include in my Promo Video it's time to start making a story board to base the production of my video on. I've vaguely sketched up the most prominent shots that are going to be included along with some information beside them to note any particular movement that might also be going on. The pictures aren't great quality but it's just a rough outline of what's going to happen on the day of filming. Because I've already taken pictures of the location areas that I'm going to be using I've decided to print these pictures out and place them in the frames where the image is going to be used in the motion. I've then sketched up the other frames in pencil so that any last minute changes can be made I'd I feel something isn't working behind the camera.To make it easier to view the storyboard I have chosen to create an animatic video to run through the frames. Filming each frame in still on the camera will allow me to rearrange any shots later on if I feel they would look better in a different sequence. I made the animatic to make a more confident sequence of my frames and went out and took pictures of all the locations i was going to film in before. I then placed some of the effects on the images that I was sure i wanted to use in the video to get a really strong visual idea about how the film was going to flow together. I uploaded the video onto my own YouTube account and have posted it onto here...

LOCATIONS // PROPS // CAST

The 3 main areas that are extremely important at this stage are deciding the location, props and cast that are going to appear in my video. All 3 elements need to flow within a set theme with one another which will run through my production to ensure that nothing or no one looks out of place at any time. 

Location wise I took inspiration and ideas primarily from Bon Iver's video in that I want dark/light forests within the sequence of frames. I particularly loved the part in the video where the torch is being used whilst travelling to peer into the forest. I'll use the forested areas for the flash-backs of the central character to represent the state of mind in which the artist is in. I'll have to wait for the weather however, as I want bright rays of light coming through the trees like in these pictures I've taken to the right. These parts could perhaps be editing into slow motion and stills of the frame could prove useful for later tasks. 

Here's a picture taken at the foreshore in Ferriby where I plan to film some more frames. I love the idea of the open space contrasting with the enclosed feeling of the forest so I think that these work work well juxtaposed together. This picture was taken when it was reasonably dusky, but again I would prefer the weather to be strong sunshine so I can catch the light reflecting off the water which would work beautifully with the music. The textures of the rocks could also perhaps be used for a frame within the video.

This was taken in preparation for making a story board for filming. The weather was great and the foreshore which usually looks so dull looked beautiful with the light shining off the water. This is the state in which I wanted to film and so grabbed a camera and started shooting some footage across the river. The feeling of space is really accentuated here and clear skies and sparkling water made a perfect mood for the tone in which I wanted to portray through my frames.

PROPS: I didn't want a lot of objects or a bizarre outrageous costume in my film as it just wouldnt have fitted with the theme of this state of mind that I'm trying to create through the visuals. Therefore I took the idea of using white to make the character show connotations of angels and heaven - an alround semantic field of dreams and death. I originally wanted to use a dress which could represent a hospital nightgown, long and flowing, but I couldn't manage to find one. Therefore I decided to modernise the idea  by using a creamy white fitted lace dress with sleeves of flower net and femanine puffed shoulders to show a sense of elegance. Other than this I decided not to use anything as the style of filming would mean that the lower body wouldn't be seen. 


CAST: Natasha Boards is the only character that will show in the video, as the song is based around the artists memories and dreams of her as battles with the effects if cancer.  
  

INSPIRATION & IDEAS

I think that my basic idea that i will use as the running theme for this video will be the concept of state of mind. I want the visual to feel surreal and mesmerising, a flash back from the vocal. Due to the track describing the state of Peter's dying lover I'm going to make the images represent a dream that he is having about her, of her without the disease with a huge sense of freedom and memories which have not yet been murdered by the illness. As I described when analysing the videos from Bon Iver etc, I want to achieve a great sense of movement and energy in the visuals with loads of representative contrasts that can relate to the feelings within the lyrics. These could be night and day, realism and surrealism, life and death to compliment the idea of dreaming. I want the audience to use their imagination to decide what is deemed as 'real' and what isn't and the images will hopefully each promote a feeling to the viewer through the story. I don't want there to be a particular event that happens in the video, not a story of anyone or any event, I just want it simply to try and replicate what Peter's dream could be if he closed his eyes and listened to this song himself.

Within the editing I really love the effects that are used in the Lightning Dust video, the use of distorting images through light glaring off the lens and using overlaying colour to add surrealism to the visual. 

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

As I have chosen to work in the style of an already popular Artist, my target audience will be the same as the band's already. This, to me, appears to be a fairly broad range of audiences, ranging from Indie through the Alternative scene to the Popular music category. In order for me to get a public view and opinion on what the Target Audience for this band entails, I have devised a Questionnaire for friends, family and fellow students to fill out, allowing me to gather a vast group of opinions in which to work from and target successfully.

Here is my questionnaire I have devised to cover what I think are the vital elements within the music industry. I included questions relating to music purchasing, promotional videos, genres, and personal preferences to get a good insight into the field I am working within. Giving these questions to the public will allow me to gain a vast range of opinion and fact about how this modern age treats technology within a musical sense, for example, are more people illegally downloading material free from the internet rather than purchasing it in shops? 

I distributed my questionnaire to 20 people with a range of age to try and get the most versatile and broad range of answers I could. Here are the results for the questions asked:

Age:  under 16   (3)   16 to 22   (11)      22 to 35   (4)    over 35 (2)

How often do you listen to music?   everyday  (19)   every other day (1)     rarely  (0)   never  (0)

In what form do you purchase music?  CD  (5)   iTunes (13)   vinyl  (0)  I don’t (Limewire etc.) (17)       

How often do you buy Cd’s?   every week  (0)    every other week  (1)     every month (4)   I don’t  (15)

How much music do you download from the Internet? All of it (16) half of it (2) some of it (1) none (1)

What are your favourite genres of music? RnB (7)  hip-hop (3)   acoustic  (3)   dance (1)     pop (6) indie  (6)   rock (3)    metal (2)     poppunk (2)    other (1)  (classical)

                                                                                 

How do you listen to music?        CD player (6) PC/laptop (17) Mp3 player (16) radio (12)   other (0)

What is your preferred radio station?      Viking.fm (4)   Galaxy (11)    Radio 1  (4)   other (1) (radio 2)

How often do you attend live gigs?   every week (1)  every other week (4)   every month  (8)  every few months (6)  never (1)

If so, what types of artists do you watch the most? Just local bands (2) friends bands (3) signed artists (14)

How often do you attend music festivals?   3-5 times a year (3)  2-3 times a year (2)   every year (7)  every other year (6) never (2)

Which festivals do you/would attend given the chance?  Leeds fest (13) Glastonbury (9)  Reading (7) Creamfields (5)  Party in the Park (6)   V festival (7)   T4 on the beach (8)

Do you watch music channels?   Often (5)    sometimes (6)   rarely (8)   never (1)

If so, what is your preferred channel?  MTV (2)  VH1 (0) Chart show (0)  Kerrang (3) Scuzz  (0) NME (1)  I don’t have a favourite (14)  other (0)

Do you think that music videos persuade you to buy the music? Yes definitely (8) sometimes perhaps  (12) never (1)

 

I then created a few charts to get a good look at how the answers rounded up in a more visual source.  

Results clearly show that the main source of gaining music is through file sharing through the internet. It's interesting how the age bracket that selected this option where the younger generation ( 16-22 ) as they are probably less aware at the fact that file sharing, without a licensing fee, is illegal. Therefore the older generation are less likely to take the risk of being potentially prosecuted for it. Vinyls have clearly become a rare purchase and are only open to an audience who are interesting in collecting, such as the male who selected this option, who collected Beatles merchandise through his interest in vintage. iTunes is still a popular choice probably due to the simpleness of purchasing its products. Instead of a journey having to be made to buy a CD, buyers can sit in the comfort of their own home, use a quick search engine on the application and purchase a track with a click. Songs are usually cheaper too as packaging doesn't have to be included in the price, just the mp3. 

 As you can see on this pie chart the range of genres that are favoured through this particular generation are RnB, Hip-Hop and Pop music. Perhaps this is due to the amount of commercial coverage these genres supply, or simply because this is the favourite music of this day and age. The age group which favoured RnB the most were the 16-22s with the older generations 22+showing a more varied choice including rock and acoustic. My one 67 year old participant chose the 'other' option, in the form of classical music, a stereotypical musical interest for that particular age. Due to the use of multiple choice however, it's clear that teenagers are not just listening to one particular type of music, they tend to listen to anything which they become accustomed to. With the internet and applications such as iTunes allowing all genres to be accessed and sampled whenever we wish, people are maintaining a wider range of interest through music. 

Just at first glance of this donut chart it's really visible that the majority of my participants don't purchase CD's and only about 5 in 20, about 1/4 of people buy their music in CD format. I didn't particularly find these results a shock as I myself don't buy CD's anymore. Although I like to own CD's and have the packaging and disk to show for my purchase, I find it much easier to either buy off iTunes or download through file sharing, and I think this is how everyone else within my age range feels too. With applications within the internet increasing in technology they are also increasing in popularity. The most worrying aspect is that sources such as limewire and Utorrent which allow users to potentially steal music from other peoples computers, means that artists are not seeing any money from people buying music, as no one is actually purchasing it. This results in bands not making any money and progressing, and therefore having to end their career.