Evaluation Question 2

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

Our brief was to create a promotional package for the release of an album, including a music promo video, digipak and magazine advert.

In the real world we found whilst in the research and planning stages, that separate companies can be responsible for the designing and production of these. Companies such as WeWow for example would be empoyed by a client to design and create an album cover.
 
Again, another different company would be employed for the design of a magazine advert and also the production of a music video.


Examples of this:
Lightenginefilms - Music video production company
This company would use a clients own ideas when creating a music video, though they may possibly have influence over the production with their own ideas and advice.
They charge £800 for a 2 hour shoot of a performance music video in one location, up to £3000 which includes much more options such as GCI and various locations for shooting.
The company does the planning with the clients assistance, the shooting, the editing. They provide the client with a DVCAM tape, data disc and DVD, they also offer help in putting the video onto youtube/vimeo etc and can submit the video for television air play.

For the advert a client may go to an advertising agency, such as, The Image Works LTD who would offer a service to the client in creating and producing a print advert for a magazine. Then the client would have to contact a magazine to put their advert in and pay a fee which is dependent on the magazine and size of advert. For a full page in Q magazine costs £9,156.

A company such as WeWow would offer a design service for the album artwork as well as the production of an album case. This shows how the production of all three different products is entirely un-linked and how in the real world it would be possible for each to not create an effective combination. In order for them to wrok together there must be a reccurring theme with each which compliments the band or artists own image.


Untitled from emma graveling on Vimeo.


From audience feedback we were told that the image of a DJ works well to link the remix aspect of the album. And also that the digipak design looks to have been well thought out and is eye-catching. The contrast of black and white on the advert with the little bits of colour also works well to make it stand out. This is all positive, although given perhaps more time or rescources, we could have produced a higher quality of graphics which would have made the ancillary texts of a better standard to match the high quality of the music video.

Evalutation Question 1

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

Music video:


Conventions of music video, across the genres:

• Tend to fall into one or more of Goodwin's music video categories: Narrative/concept/performance.
• Editing is usually cut to the beat. 
• Variety of shot types such as: close ups, establishing shots, high/low angles, panning shots, tracking shots.
• Main focus is usually on lead singer of band or solo artist.
• Mise-en-scene tends to link to style and genre of the band/artist.
• Diegetic introductions/endings or throughout the rest of the video.
• Lack of titles or other anchorage in text format - eg.artists and song titles are usually added by music channels.

How our music video ties with those:


Evaluation question 1 from emma graveling on Vimeo.


PODCAST: Genre specific conventions


Untitled from emma graveling on Vimeo.

Digipak:

Common conventions of Digipaks:

• Artist/band name and album title on front panel and spine
• Image of artist/band or computer generated imagery
• Disc in tray or slotted in the sides
• Recurring theme and/or imagery throughout all the panels
• Track listing on the back panel
• 'Special Edition' sticker
• Barcode on back panel

Our Digipak -

This matches the common conventions of digipaks such as:

• Computer generated imagery - due to the cartoon style of Gorillaz we stuck with that theme, instead of using photography of our central protagonist as he isn't embodying a lead singer for the band.
• We have the band name and album title on the front panel and the spine, we also have it in the middle to tie the theme throughout the panels.
• As well as that we have tied the imagery of the bricks throughout and also the imagery of the speakers and the black graffitti style text.
• We have included a track list on the back panel.
• We have chosen to slot discs in the side because there are 2 discs, one CD and one DVD.
• We have used a 'special edition' sticker
• We have put on a barcode

Magazine Advert:

Common conventions of magazine adverts can be seen on my blog post researching the conventions of existing magazine album adverts: http://emma-graveling-musicvid.blogspot.com/2011/02/mag-ads-for-digipaks-draft.html

What we found, in short, was:

General Codes and Conventions of Magazine Album Adverts - 

• include Band / Artist name
• include album title
• give a release date
• inform of available formats
• include a web address
• advertise songs it includes
• advertise where to buy album
• match imagery to album cover or use photographs of album cover on advert

Our final ancillary magazine advert:

This matches the common conventions of magazine album adverts such as:

• We have included the Band name and album title.
• We have given a release date 'JULY 2011' (festival season).
• We have given information on which formats it would be available in, we included vinyl as this has risen in popularity.
• It advertises the song '19/2000 Soulchild remix' as we believe this is the most well known song, and is the track we chose to create a music video and therefore should be effective in advertising the album.
• We included a link to iTunes, a place to download the album.
• We have challenged the common convention of matching advert imagery to album artwork, instead we have used a small image of the album on the bottom right hand corner of the advert and a different image on the main section of the advert.

Our Digipak - final design

This is our final design for the cover of the digipak.

Although there is more information needed about the digipak which we need to put onto the front panel, which we have chosen to do in sticker format.

This is the sticker.

This is our final design, with the sticker included. 

We chose to put it on the speaker as it doesn't obstruct any other text here, and the circular design fits with the shape of the speaker.

Our Magazine Advert

We decided to stick with the theme of using cartoons which beth and I drew ourselves, for the album advert and the digipak cover. This means that our digipak and magazine advert tie together as a package.
As the album is for a compilation of Gorillaz remixes, we chose to draw a picture of a DJ at a mixing table, which ties the theme of remixes and the imagery of the advert together.

After researching the existing examples of magazine adverts from Q magazine, we narrowed down what need to be on the adverts. This included:

• The band or artists name  
• The album title
• A release date
• Available formats
• A web address
• Advertises songs it includes
• Advertises where to buy album

Here is our first draft of the magazine advert:



The audience feedback we gained from this was that the theme of remixes and the DJ imagery works well, but it was also suggested that we definately need to add some colour.

Also that the date shouldn't be larger than the album title.

An advert or link to a place where you can purchase this album such as iTunes, Amazon, HMV etc.

It was suggested we could add some information on what the special edition digipak includes.

It was also suggested that festival season would be a better date to advertise the release date.

And due to the increase in popularity recently of vinyl, we could add that as another available format of the album.

Here is our second draft:

I have added to this, colour which matches the digipak, as it is a common convention of magazine album adverts for the imagery to match the album artwork, although we have challenged this convention as our album artwork doesn't match the advert I have also added an image of the album, so that an audience would know what to look for when purchasing the digipak.

I added the small image link to iTunes, beacause after a quick survey of asking people if they owned an iPod, most of which did and also wether they use iTunes to download music or listen to their music files on their computers, again most said that they had and did. Therefore iTunes seemed like the most popular choice. It also adds some authenticity to the advert.

Finally i added the small section on what the digipak contains, for which I took inspiration from existing examples of bonus features.

I hope to upload this and our digipak to facebook in order to get some audience feedback from a variety of age ranges but mostly our target audience, and find out whether they think our digipak and magazine advert work well and are effective in drawing in the target audience.

The feedback we gained on this 2nd draft was that the colour of pink/purple on the text is "perfect".
The combination of only 3 colours are "simple yet effective".
It looks professional
They like the graffitti style of writing on the Gorillaz
The advert is in keeping with the 'youthful' style of the digipak
They also suggested that we should:

• Use the same pink text on more of the white text
• Make the text on the digipak features stand out more, for example: in shape of a record.
• Re-order the writing as it is a little squished up
• Compress 'THE REMIXES' so that the edges of the letters arent lost

Here is our third draft:

Here we have edited the sections which we were told needed some work from our audience feedback.

However Beth and I have decided we dislike the text in the shape of a record, we don't think this works well so with our next draft we will straighten that back out again. Other than that we are happy with this design.

Here is our final design:

The audience feedback we gained from this deisgn helped us decide that this was the one we would use as it wasn't suggested anything needed changing and also that it looks proffesional.

Final Rough Cut

Digipak design

Using a template for a digipak which folds 3 times, we have put onto this our final rough design for the digipak. We will gather audience feedback to decide on any final changes, which hopefully we will be able to get from social networking sites such as facebook, as well as in class from other students.
We picked this design as it has 2 sections to slot in CD's, therefore we can put the DVD of the music video in one side and the remixes CD in the other.
We tied the design of the digipak together by using the same background and writing style throughout, hopefully this makes it look more professional.

BC - The Editing Process

Here is some brief notes regarding some of our decision making in the editing process of our music video.

• Originally the skateboarding scene was going to be majority snorricam, but as that seemed slow and quite dull, I broke it up with clips of him doing tricks.  - Possible chance to shoot extra footage and add in more shots of him from different angles.
• The lighting whilst using the snorricam was very dark on his face, so using the editing tools, gamma, brightness and contrast, I have made it slightly lighter so it's easier to see his face.
• Added affect on Callum as he leaves the house and jumps on skateboard - ghost trails - which add the sense of fast movement in slow motion. 
• Added a transition from the table & ring of fire to Megan and Nick doing a shot to signify a time change. 
• Non additive dissolve - "Compares the pixels in the two clips and displays the lighter of the two as the first clip fades out and second fades in"
• Same transition used from the shot of Megan to the 'rave' scenes.
• Overlap of clips and 50% opacity on the sequence of Callum and Vicky going up stairs to connote a drunken memory - blurred and no correct order to sequence of shots, all just on top of each other. 

Changes made after second rough cut

Our second rough cut featured all of our footage, with basic editing by being cut to roughly the right length and in the correct order. After getting some feedback on our second rough cut, and most people saying that they liked the footage, Emma and I then went back to Final Cut and started our final stages of editing. 

• Cut and reverse. When Callum goes down the stairs, to make the shot a bit more interesting rather than one long take, we have cut and reversed 2 of the sections, in time to the beat of the song, to make it a bit more in sync with the song. 
• Tighter cuts on the sequence of Callum going to the fridge, making it flow more smoothly. 
• Instead of having the lip syncing in the car one continuous shot, we have split up the shot with some cut away shots, which in our second rough cut we had at the end of the sequence. This creates some more shot variation in the sequence.
• Getting out of the car - before I had cut the long pause between the car lights turning off and them getting out of the car. Dave picked up on the slight jump in editing, and so instead of cutting, we have split the clip into 3, and have the middle section sped up to around 140%, which I think gives a nice, subtle effect along with the part of the song as a cloud lifts and the lighting on the car shifts. (easier to see visually than explain)

• From audience feedback, we were told that the transition from normal lens to fisheye wasn't very smooth. After playing with some different effects, we have put on Light Rays effect, which distorts the image with bright rays of light. Using this affect on the shot of the DJ, and then the beginning of the fisheye clip, creates a more subtle transition as well as a time ellipsis effect. 

• The ending of the video, where Callum and Vicky go upstairs, the lighting seemed really bright and a bit unreal in the situation of a house party and so using the Desaturate effects, I changed the colouring a little bit, just to make it match the rest of the footage more.

There have been times where we've had to choose between different editing effects.
Some have been more simple, with something like the order in which shots appear, others needed a little bit more thought over, with the various effects available on Final Cut.

Here is an example of two clips which we have had to decide over.
Whether to keep it simple sequence which visually is easy to follow, or instead use effects to create a visual representation of the situation - being drunk.

BC - Gorillaz album artwork

Formed in 1998, Gorillaz' first album came out in 2001. Named Gorillaz, their first album consisted of some of there most well known tracks.

Their first album is a graphic image of the band in the same 'geep' as featured in the 19/2000 music video. The album art is simple, with just the car on the white background and the band name tagged in graffiti, and the parent advisory.

In 2002, Gorillaz released the compilation G-Sides.
As a  'B-Sides' Collection to their first album, featuring the additional tracks from their first three singles and the Tomorrow Comes Today EP.
This is the album in which 19/2000 SoulChild Remix first came out on, as the first song on the album.
All versions have the same cover, featuring Noodle with a skeleton doll in her hand, except for the Canadian, Japanese and Australian versions.   [Wiki]

There is similar aspects between this album cover and their previous, such as the graffiti style writing on Gorillaz, and the cover featuring all the band members, even though there is the one that is in the foreground.

Laika Come Home is another compilation released in 2002.
It isn't a typical remix album, and instead of having variety of artists remixing the songs, is done by just one group, Spacemokeyz.
The album contains most of the songs from Gorillaz' first album, but remixed in a dub and reggae style.

In 2004, the album was packaged with 2001 Gorillaz in a limited edition box set as part of EMI's "2CDs Originals" collection.

The album cover is different to the usual artwork of Gorillaz, the imagery is of a space monkey, on the background of a map of the stars, edited with text such as 'Spacemoney versus Gorillaz'.
There is also a sticker added on to this version, in which some images of the album art work don't have. The sticker gives an insight into the album, with the band, remixers, a brief description and other artists that it features.

Demon Days is the second studio album, released in 2005.
The album cover is reference to Let it Be by The Beatles.
Featuring all 4 members, and moving away from the graffiti band title, but staying quite simple in the imagery.


Like G-Sides to Gorillaz; D-Sides is the B-side album to Demon Days.
Released in 2007, D-Sides contains remixes and B-side tracks.

'Have a look at this exclusive image of the contents of the D-Sides deluxe package below! In one of Gorillaz most spectacular packages yet, there are plenty of goodies to be had with this 2-disc set. In addition to fantastic new images from longtime Gorillaz friend and collaborator Jamie Hewlett, the amazing box also features a patch and more new stickers! Also note that the release date of D-Sides has been amended to 19th November in the UK and 20th November in the USA.' [Gorillaz fan blog]

The third studio album, released in 2010 is their most recent album, Plastic Beach.
Comparing to their first album cover, Plastic Beach seems a more graphically animated image as opposed to the simple graphics of the band members.
They also have used different text type to the graffiti style.






The Fall was released on the 25th December 2010, as a free download on the Gorillaz website, exclusively to fans in the band's Sub-Division fan club.
The entire album was recorded on Damon Albarn's Apple Ipad, during part of their World Tour. Plans have been announced for the album to get a physical release, scheduled for April 2011.

Behind the scenes footage

Behind the Scenes from Beth Cooper on Vimeo.

Third Rough Cut

Rough Cut 3 from Beth Cooper on Vimeo.

Audience Feedback on this latest edited version by three classmates, who represent the age of our target audience as well as our class teacher suggested that in order to improve this cut we should:

• Cut back to the phone ringing and add in SFX to the shots to mimic the vibrations of the phone, in the opening scenes of mise en scene close ups.
• Also add diegetic sound of the phones vibrations.
• Reverse the shot of the light bulbs to focused, then blurred, as this will tie better with our central protagonist, Callum waking up.
• Alter the sequence of shots to mix both mise en scene, bottles and cigarette packets etc with the extras cast asleep.
• Add more lip-syncing as Callum gets dressed.
• More shot variation during the fridge scene.
• Possibly add a close up shot of Callum opening the can, and using SFX put his face on the can lid.
• Possibly repeat the motion of the fridge shutting to match the beat, similar to the repetition of Callum running down the stairs
• Overlay Callum taking the cigarette of the girl sleeping on the floor to mask the slight shake of the camera
• De-saturation of red hues on the skateboarding scene
• Add more ghost trails on the long shots from the skateboarding scene or possibly just on the jumps
• Re-shoot the shot of the CD player in the car
• Add shots of the road, to increase shot variation in the car scene
• Re-shoot the scene in which Callum and Simon arrive at the party, as the shots are too long, they're poorly framed and they don't flow well into the next sequence of shots from the house party.
• Mix together shots of the rave and the kitchen scene with fast pace editing to create a more slowing transition.
• Alter the main shot of transition from our cast member Megan, to the DJ, to a transition of Megan to Megan down in the rave which would flow better.
• Layer some of the HD shots from the rave 
• Link the HD shots to the fisheye lens by panning down into a bottle creating a circular frame which is similar.
• Also improve the transition between the fisheye lens and the scene with Callum and our female cast member Vicky going upstairs in a similar way.
• Re-shoot the ending to make it less abrupt, we will film Callum putting his hand to the camera to signify the end.

Second Rough Cut

Rough cut 2 from Beth Cooper on Vimeo.

Changes made:


We have added shots of mise en scene to the opening which was previously blank as this was missing. This includes shots of bottles and cigarettes which are typical of house parties and youth image.

We re shot the scene of Callum dressing, so that there is continuity with the T-Shirt he wears.
One problem with this footage is that it is a little dark.

We filmed the scene in which Callum goes to the fridge again.
The problems with the editing of this is that some of the takes are too long and also he looks into the camera a little at one point, although he does this in sections of lip syncing so this isn't a major problem. With music video there aren't clear cut conventions about breaking the 4th wall.

We re shot the scene in which Callum goes to leave the house, in order to maintain continuity as in the previous shot he had a cigarette in his mouth, whereas in our original filming of that scene he did not.

We have filmed the car scenes again, in which Callum and Simon both lip sync. We added these after gaining audience feedback, as our audiences said they liked the rough footage we took of the lip syncing in the car and wanted to see more of that. One problem with this scene in this edit of our video is the lack of shot variety, in the next edit we do we will add more shots from different angles within the car.

We have added the characters' arrival at the party which was missing from our original rough cut. There is a slight glitch in this editing, which we will sim to remove with the next edit of the video.

From our audience feedback we were told that the transition between the kitchen scene and the rave scene wasn't very good, we have added in a fade to try and improve this although were still not entirely happy with this so again we will aim to make further improvements.

Finally, we added shots to the rave scene which was originally all fish eye lens shots, it now contains some of the HD footage. The section which has been added uses very fast pace editing to match the beat of the track.

Audience Feedback

Our roughcut of our music video was presented to the other media class, they gave us this feedback:

On editing:

• Good special effects.
• Nice shot variation.
• Could add more blurred effects to other parts of the video.
• Texting scene is too slow.
• Should speed up the editing on the rave scene.
• We should re-think the transition between normal and fish eye lens shots.
• Speed up the kitchen scenes or transition the shots straight to the rave.

On target audience appeal:

• Some of the rave scenes are slightly empty and this makes it look unrealistic.
• The linear narrative is well done, it flows well.
• The class could relate to the situation and narrative of the video, as they are the same age as our target audience.
• Could appeal to a younger target audience, between ages 15-17 as it portrays a youth rebellion lifestyle.

On improvements we could make:

• Put in more lip syncing scenes.