Grace's A2 Media Blog: 2015

Before I could make my digipak or magazine advert I needed to research other products from similar and contrasting genres to find out what sort of design I should be aiming for. This research was very helpful because as I had never previously seen or purchased a digipak I was able to study the layout and understand the most common layouts and conventions. For example the way the album name or artist is always on the spine. I discovered that continuity was an important factor when making a digipak and a magazine advert so that the two products were aesthetically pleasing but also recognizable for the audience.

I originally wanted to link the digipak and magazine advert to the narrative of the video, for example having screen shots from the video in the digipak, but because the character in my video isn’t played by the artist I felt that I couldn’t put the actress on the digipak and magazine advert as this would be misleading to the audience. However the magazine advert and digipak were made to work in conjunction with each other to make the products easily recognizable. Therefore not only does the digipak and advert have the same back ground image, but the advert also features a image of the digipak on the wing of the plane. I think this demonstrates the use of synergy ‘the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.’ So in other words my digipak and magazine advert work together to create a greater advertising product that is recognizable across the two individual products.

Both of my ancillary texts are very similar to each other, they both use the same colours and the same font to help the audience link the products together and back to the artist. I felt that a single colour text was suitable for both of my ancillary texts as it was easy to see and clear-cut, which helped to create the fresh, crisp look I wanted to achieve with my products. The image used on my digipak and advert doesn’t necessarily fit in with the narrative of my music video but it does fit in with the image I want to portray of the artist. I believe it is quite a relaxed, but creative image, which gets your mind wondering about the style of the artists and perhaps implies that her music falls into the ‘indi’ genre as it could be interpreted as a ‘hipster’ image, which is commonly associated with the indi genre.

As stated earlier because the character in my video isn’t played by the artist I felt that I couldn’t put the actress on the digipak and magazine advert. But the other reason I didn’t want to use images from the video is that I took an abstract approach in the video and this wasn't really suitable for the ancillary products as it wouldn't make much sense when placed on the digipak or advert. However I think the image I chose is still appropriate and fits well with my artists, as the song and digipak are called ‘so high’ and the image is taken from an airplane therefore you feel like you are literally so high when looking at the image.

The images of the artist, on the back of the digipak were used to help the audience feel connected to the artist so that they can form a stronger bond to her and her music. I also did this because it is “nice to have a face to the name” as the old saying goes. Therefore I think the images help make the product more satisfying overall.

The images also support Goodwin’s voyeurism as the artist is directly looking into the camera on some of the images, which makes the audience feel like they are connected and involved in the product. The image from the airplane also supports the notion of looking because it makes you want to look out into the sky and the earth on the image its self.

I also purposely included images of the artist due to Laccans mirror stage and the idea that the audience reflects part of them self on to the artist and part of the artists onto themselves. Thus bringing them closer to the product and making them more interactive with the industry and the artist as they see themselves reflected within it.

In conclusion my digipak and magazine advert were created to work in conjunction with each other and to promote the artist. I wanted to make something that captured the audience, was memorable and got them thinking about the artist. I feel I did this well and my products support my music video even though there is no actual imagery from my music video its self. I feel I used continuity well between my two ancillary texts and this has contributed to the overall effect of promoting the artist.

Final: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

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

During my planning and evaluation stages I used a number of different technologies. The first one is Blogger. At the beginning of AS I had no idea how to use blogger but I used it because I thought it would be a good platform to use to keep track of my work and to have a digital copy. I kept my work on Blogger organized by setting up labels for each section and this was very effective as it made it quick and easy to find what I was looking for on my blog. Now looking back on my blog I think it may have been even more beneficial to add more labels to create sub sections within the existing labels.

When planning my music video I used Apple’s Face Time to discuss ideas with part of my focus group. I used this because it allowed me to show them drawings and plans I had made of shot types and locations etc. It was very effective in helping me communicate essentially face to face when I was unable to actually be in the same place as them. This in turn was vital in helping me make decisions about my music video.

When shooting my music video I used a Soney HDR- HD 1000E. I used this camera because after making my thriller opening in AS I realized how unstable the small handheld cameras are and thought that this wouldn’t be appropriate this time around as I specifically wanted better shot stability. I also wanted control over the focus of the lens and knew that I would be able to achieve this easier through using the bigger Soney Camera. I am glad that I used this camera instead of the one used in AS, as the quality of my shots was a lot better and I liked the control I had over the focus on some scenes.

In AS my knowledge of Final Cut was very limited as I had never before used the software, I had previously only had knowledge in using iMovie. However I soon learnt how to add filters and transitions along with speeding up clips. This year, I thought I would try to expand on my Final Cut knowledge by using a green screen in my filming stages, which of course would mean I would have to correct the image in the editing stages. Although this was challenging and required a lot of research, I feel it was really beneficial to my video and my general editing skills. Learning how to use chroma keyer was hard at first, but something I am now proud to know how to use. When looking at what I would do differently in this stage, I can confidently say that taking more time to set up my positioning so that I had the widest shot possible would have benefited my production greatly.

I used Photoshop in both my ancillary texts and in my main product. I had never used this before and had no knowledge of how to edit images; therefore it took me a while to get to grips with the basics. I used it to generate a background image of the night sky, to put in over my green screen. I feel this worked fairly well but maybe with more experience I would have perhaps created a slightly better image. So for this reason, next time I would allow my self some time in the planning stages to research tutorials and explore the software some more. The same applies to my ancillary texts, which I feel could have been better if I had more advanced knowledge of the programe.

For one of my evaluation questions I used Padlet. I used it because I wanted a variety of ways to present my work and Padlet is really simple and easy to use. I think it was fairly effective at presenting my work. I also used Powerpoint and Slide Share, which was good for me because it was really familiar so it was easy to produce my work. I believe my podcast was effective because in todays busy world not many people have time to sit down and read a text but they quite often have time to listen to something on the go. Next time, if I were to make a podcast/video I would do it on a software which didn’t have a watermark so that the people who are watching it could view it better.

Due to the increase in technology and the development of the internet I was able to find my artists by using sights I such as Soundcloud, Youtube, Spotify and Unsigned. Originally I was going to use an artist I found on unsigned but after some differences over the direction the music video should go in, I decided to switch artists. I started looking on sound cloud and thats where I found Jess Harwood. I was able to contact her, due to the development of social media, through Facebook. This was useful because I was also able to see if/when she had seen the message which helped eased the typical anxiety many may feel when sending an email and not knowing if it delivered or not. The development of sites such as survey monkey and twitter collectively helped me to create a questionnaire which I could then rapidly post on to twitter and instantly start receiving feedback. Statistics generated by Facebook on my artists page also helped me by telling me the age group of the people who have the most 'likes' on her page and comment or 'like' her posts. These developments in technology have helped me by making it easier and quicker to do work.

Wednesday, 29 April 2015

Updated: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

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

Sunday, 26 April 2015

Updated: What Have You Learned From Your Audience Feedback?

Created with Padlet

Thursday, 16 April 2015

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

Unfortunatley I did not have a full editing software program so my podcast has a watermark over it but this can always be redone on different software if it needs to be.

Transcript:

Both of my ancillary texts are very similar to each other, they both use the colour blue and the image on the digipack is a smaller image of the picture used on the advert. I did this because I liked the synergy between the two and the way it made the products easily recognisable for the audience. I thought by keeping the same colour scheme and same font it would help to make it more recognisable for people.

I thought my products helped to support my music video as they give the feel that it is a singer song writer, or indie artists which is appropriate for my music video. I thought that the light colours are quite neutral and help make it appeal to a wider audience.

Even though there isn't any imagery from my music video I think my ancillary texts support my main product as the digipak is called 'so high' and so is the song my music video was made around. However I took an abstract approach in the video and this wasn't really suitable for the ancillary products as it wouldn't make much sense. So I used an image of being on a plane, seeing the sky and the earth below and being literally so high.

Overall I feel like my ancillary texts worked well with my main product. I recieved good feedback from my focus group also which secures my belief in this.

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Tuesday, 17 March 2015

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Created with Padlet

Monday, 16 March 2015

Final Updated Digipak

After reading my focus group responses I realised I needed to make some changes to my Digipak so I added a design to the spine of the case and removed the iTunes logo. It was suggested that I should remove the biography parts of the design but when conducting my research into Digipak's I found that artists such as Beyonce, did sometimes include these features on their product. Therefore I have decided to keep the biography parts as I feel it does fit to the conventions of the industry.

This is my Digipak:

The front cover is the image at the bottom right of the tray.

The back is the image at the bottom left of the tray.

The inside front cover of the digipak is the top right of the tray

The CD would be positioned in the top left of the tray with the CD design matching that of the underlaying image.

Front and Back cover.

Inside Covers.

Digital Adaptation of the images:
The original images:

The edited images:

(here I just changed the opacity)

Updated Magazine Advertisement

After the responses from my focus group, I decided to make some changes to my magazine advert.
This is my final magazine advertisement :

I would place my magazine advert in Q magazine as it is a popular music magazine in the UK. It was founded by Mark Ellen and David Hepworth who wanted to bring a new magazine to older music buyers. Since then it has taken off in the UK. Up until 2012 it was also a TV channel.

Q has a big proportion dedicated to reviewing music. It also features new music releases, reissues music compilations, film and love concert review along with radio and television reviews. It also has a section for albums which is classes as the best new releases in the past three months. Q also has a lot of interviews with popular artist and is well known for making lists i.e "The 100 Greatest Albums". They also feature, with their sister magazine Mojo, a special edition about. Previously these have been about musical times, genres or influential musicians. Promotional gifts have been part of Q's history of promoting. For example the January 2006 issue included a free copy of "The Greatest Rock and Pop Miscellany … Ever!"

Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine. Readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the contents of the magazine. The "spine line" has since become commonplace among British lifestyle magazines, including Q's sister publication, Empire. Q has links with Glastonbury Festival and during the festival they produce a free daily newspaper on site and a review magazine which is available at the end of the festival.

In 2008 Q launched a radio station (Q Radio) which included shows such as 'Drivetime with Danielle Perry' and 'Q the 80s with Mattew Rudd'. It was transmitted on digital television and online. Coldplay helped in launching the station when they gave an exclusive interview on the launch day. However in 2013 the owners of Q Radio (Bauer Media) decided to use the stations bandwidth on various platforms and as a result, launched 'Kisstory', played on their spinoff brand 'Kiss'

Q have had many noticeable articles. For example, in 2006 they published a readers survey of the 100 Greatest Songs Ever. This was followed by 100 Greatest Singers in 2007 and in 2010 Lady Gaga posed topless in a shoot for the April issue. This ended up banned by some stores in the US due to her revealing too much of her breast.

Although Q is typically aimed at the older generations, with sources ranging from 25 - 45 years old, and this does fit my all of my target audience (teenagers to adults) it does target part of my audience. This magazine was originally targeted for people who love rock and role but more recently it has had some of the worlds biggest artists from a range of genres e.g U2, Adele, Oasis, Rihanna, Radiohead, Lady Gaga and more. This makes me believe that I could put my artist in this magazine and it wouldn't be completely out of place. You could argue that there are other magazines that are specifically for the genre of my artist but Q has a lot to offer which other magazines may not necessarily have. For example it is the UK's number one actively purchased music magazine, it is a trusted influential - meaning that a good review from Q could make the artists career. It also gets seen around the world, therefore targeting people out side of the UK. Q also has a multi media platform with around 10 brand extensions which could be used for advertising to the many audiences of Q. It is also the only magazine that can give you advertising access at Glastonbury which is one of the biggest, if not the biggest music festival in the UK. This is why I would chose Q to advertise my digipak and artist.

I would most likely place my advert in the beginning to first half of the magazine as quite often people fail to read the whole of a magazine. This therefore would ensure that my digipak is being seen and hopefully remembered. Another reason I would place it here is because magazines are often found in waiting rooms were people never tend to have the time to get past the first half of the magazine before being called into their appointment So again this would ensure that it gets seen.

Sunday, 15 March 2015

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

Throughout my research, planning and evaluation stages I used different technologies. The first one I used consistently throughout the whole process was 'Blogger'. I used this to keep track of my progress over the entire project.

When shooting my music video I used a Soney HDV CMOS camera and a green screen for special effects. I edited my footage in Final Cut Express where I used technology such as chroma keyer, fade in/out and fade to black. I also sped up some of the footage.

When making my print productions I used Photoshop to crop and change the various aspects of images.

During my evaluations I used padlet, powerpoint and slide share to display it on my blog, a pod cast and a blog post.

Magazine and Digipak Focus Group Questionnaires

Magazine Advert - Question 1:

This questions is particularly helpful as all of my respondents replied with 'yes'. This means I'm on the right path with the design of my advert.

Magazine Advert - Question 2:
The answers here ranged from 6-8. This is good because it lets me know that although the overall look is pleasing, there is still areas I can improve on to make the advert look better.

Magazine Advert - Question 3:
This question has been helpful because I know now that I'm creating a advert that the audience thinks is relative to the artist.

Magazine Advert - Question 4:
I put this question in to see how realistic people thought my poster was to posters they have seen in real media products. 6/9 agree that my product is similar to real media adverts they have seen.

Digipak Advert - Question 4:
I asked this question so I could gage an understanding of how many songs people would expect on a digipak, so that I could taylor my design to this.

Magazine Advert - Question 5:
Again, this question was to gage how much my product matched other media products. Mostly the responses were good however there were a few lower responses of 5 and 7. Nevertheless, this is good because I know now that changes can be made to improve it.

Digipak Advert - Question 5:
I asked this question to gage an idea of how many people from my focus group purchased digipaks.

Magazine Advert - Question 6:
There were a mixture of responses here, as I expected there to be. The point of this question was to see how effective people thought my poster would be at influencing them to listen to the artist.

Digipak Advert - Question 6:
I asked this question because I wanted to understand if people liked digipaks and why or if they preferred plastic CDs

Digipak Advert - Question 7:

This question was helpful because it lets me know if i need to change the style of my digipak to suit my artists genre more, or if the focus group thought it was already suited to the genre.

Magazine Avert - Question 7:
here I wanted to see if magazine adverts had much of an effect on my focus group. The most common answer was that it didn't effect their decision to buy an album.