Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Thursday, 19 December 2013
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary tasks?
Our
promotional materials have been produced with our demographic in
mind, created using conventions of the post-punk revival genre to
best capitalise on what style of promotion has been proven to be
successful. The tongue-in-cheek camp humour seen in our video (akin
to that of The Libertines or The Darkness) carries over to our
Digipak, although no actual image from the video has been used. This
has been done as it better promotes the theme, as to have people on a
Digipak slide would undermine the outlandish, unrealistic tone we
were trying to achieve. In the Digipak, we used Photoshop quite
extensively to make a product that was unachievable through
conventional means, making the Digipak look more professional.
Using vibrant
colours in our Digipak not only makes the materials stand out from
other indie band’s Digipaks, but it also uses colours that were
popular in our questionnaire of our market. The video itself is also
tailored for our market in that its light-hearted theme is popular
with our market and fits conventions set out by the post-pink revival
genre.
 |
| The front and back covers for the band are seen at the top left and right, while the poster for the song is underneath. |
The poster we made combines elements from the front cover (titles) and the back cover (blurred figures and translucent police tape) to create a poster that would be recognisable to people that have seen one and can then associate the images with the others. The newspaper used on the front is continued on the inside of the Digipak. The reason this was not used on the poster was it would be too much visually and we didn't want to overuse the theme too much as it is used extensively elsewhere. We chose to emulate a TV news ticker to solidify the media theme, especially since the camera and presenter overlay it. The choice of wording "case opens" is a more light-hearted way of saying the song is released and is more fitting with the theme.
The other slides in the Digipak have a different colour sceme to the others; red and orange as opposed to different shades of green. We did this as I did the outside coers and the poster while Jack did most of the inside covers. If we didn't change the colour sceme, the greens could have been slightly off, making the whole product look tacky. Another reason we did this was it would give the buying customers an alternate view on the band with the new colours, making them feel like they've seen something other people hadn't. We felt the use of silhouettes the whole way through the Digipak was effective as again it keeps the unrealistic tone. Concealed identity is a convention of the post punk revival genre, one which we adapted for our own use.
 |
| Here are the three inset slides of our Digipak. |
 |
| Here are two examples of concealed identity being used by real bands. The first is The Futureheads' self titled album, while the latter is The Phones - Two Hearts, Two Heads. |
Our
promotion would be focused mainly on the internet. Traditional media,
such as television, magazines and radio, give little exposure to
small bands, especially on a nationwide scale. Conversely, the
internet opens up our promotional materials to a much wider audience that would not have heard our song otherwise. The chance of a breakout hit is much higher on the internet, too, as demonstrated by the Arctic Monkeys back in 2005. Our demographic spend more time on the internet than other age groups, and so we feel this method of advertising would be most appropriate.
What have you learned from your audience feedback?
Early audience feedback
The first audience feedback we collected was in the form of twenty questionnaires completed by my form group, both genders between the ages of 11 to 17. A facet of note from the answers was the want for a simple narrative. We chose to adhere to the idea as that would be inclusive of more of the audience and sub plots are difficult to pull off in a couple of minute time frame. The two favourite genres of film from the questionnaire were thrillers and comedies. We took this into account by using conventions of both, such as differing camera angles, foreshadowing of the corpses and an entertaining blend of narrative and performance. This easy to follow approach was the basis behind the sharing of common themes between many of the Digipak covers, as to not confuse the audience and make the whole product seem more self contained.
Our ideas pitch pulled up some issues with our initial ideas regarding the logistics of how we were actually going to make the video. While the ideas were not bad unto themselves, they were simply too difficult to produce given our lack of time, budget and experience. Our final idea took this into account being being linear in its structure, streamlining both the filming and editing processes.
Feedback from my Media class and other peers of a similar age
The video itself was received mostly positively. While it was commented that the shots we used were particularly amateurish, however the editing and feel of the piece were well received with the conventions used being clear. The Digipak was taken very positively. Aspects such as the composition and placement of images were rated highly, the theme came through clearly and consensus was that we used Photoshop very well. What we learned from this feedback is that we should have put more thought into planning the video, as although the foundations for a good video were laid, more polish was needed to make something resembling a professional production. The gulf in quality between the video and Digipak could be ironed out if the video were to be refined.
Feedback from a Year 10 class
Around 10 students from a Year 10 class watched our video and looked at our Digipak. The feedback was similar to what my Media class said; however they were less scathing towards the video than my class were. This may be due to them taking the video as a whole rather than looking for more technical aspects. From this, I have learned that cinematography may be less of a deciding factor in whether a younger individual likes a music video than the content.
The first audience feedback we collected was in the form of twenty questionnaires completed by my form group, both genders between the ages of 11 to 17. A facet of note from the answers was the want for a simple narrative. We chose to adhere to the idea as that would be inclusive of more of the audience and sub plots are difficult to pull off in a couple of minute time frame. The two favourite genres of film from the questionnaire were thrillers and comedies. We took this into account by using conventions of both, such as differing camera angles, foreshadowing of the corpses and an entertaining blend of narrative and performance. This easy to follow approach was the basis behind the sharing of common themes between many of the Digipak covers, as to not confuse the audience and make the whole product seem more self contained.
Our ideas pitch pulled up some issues with our initial ideas regarding the logistics of how we were actually going to make the video. While the ideas were not bad unto themselves, they were simply too difficult to produce given our lack of time, budget and experience. Our final idea took this into account being being linear in its structure, streamlining both the filming and editing processes.
Feedback from my Media class and other peers of a similar age
The video itself was received mostly positively. While it was commented that the shots we used were particularly amateurish, however the editing and feel of the piece were well received with the conventions used being clear. The Digipak was taken very positively. Aspects such as the composition and placement of images were rated highly, the theme came through clearly and consensus was that we used Photoshop very well. What we learned from this feedback is that we should have put more thought into planning the video, as although the foundations for a good video were laid, more polish was needed to make something resembling a professional production. The gulf in quality between the video and Digipak could be ironed out if the video were to be refined.
Feedback from a Year 10 class
Around 10 students from a Year 10 class watched our video and looked at our Digipak. The feedback was similar to what my Media class said; however they were less scathing towards the video than my class were. This may be due to them taking the video as a whole rather than looking for more technical aspects. From this, I have learned that cinematography may be less of a deciding factor in whether a younger individual likes a music video than the content.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
Music video
We feel our music video mixes conventions from several genres to successfully combine narrative and performance elements. For example, we used Lévi-Strauss's "Binary Opposition" theory in our video, but added themes from the post-punk genre to keep the mood light and better match the fast pace of the song.
Binary Opposition is where the viewer is left in no uncertain terms that the good characters are good, and the evil characters are evil. We did this by showing the good characters engaging with each other and enjoying themselves, juxtaposed by the band who are static and stifled in comparison. Putting a positive spin on a convention of horror makes the video more appropriate for our intended audience.
The conventions behind the interaction between the characters and the song are manipulated to draw the viewer into the video. Since the characters interact with certain lines in the song (eg. "There's been a homicide") it suspends the viewer's disbelief and makes the storyline seem as if it was happening in real time. The blending of illustrative and amplification elements makes our storyline presentation less jarring as the viewer may project themselves upon the emotionally ambivalent characters.
Digipak and poster
Our Digipak and poster follow most of the conventions of promotional artwork of the post-punk genre. My research and planning has shown that similar artists rarely use images of the band in their artwork, so we followed suit. We used Photoshop extensively to create images that were recognisable to our audience, but kept some of the abstract colours typical of genre to keep the artwork interesting.
A packaging convention we have not used is a barcode on the back cover. We planned for the CD to come packaged in a cardboard cover which would have the barcode on it. The barcode was removed as it looked out of place on the green striped background.
In terms of framing on the covers, we have followed conventions as we felt little benefit in changing a universally used format. The front cover has both the band and track name with some bordering, while the back cover has a track listing and a different border style.
We feel our music video mixes conventions from several genres to successfully combine narrative and performance elements. For example, we used Lévi-Strauss's "Binary Opposition" theory in our video, but added themes from the post-punk genre to keep the mood light and better match the fast pace of the song.
Binary Opposition is where the viewer is left in no uncertain terms that the good characters are good, and the evil characters are evil. We did this by showing the good characters engaging with each other and enjoying themselves, juxtaposed by the band who are static and stifled in comparison. Putting a positive spin on a convention of horror makes the video more appropriate for our intended audience.
The conventions behind the interaction between the characters and the song are manipulated to draw the viewer into the video. Since the characters interact with certain lines in the song (eg. "There's been a homicide") it suspends the viewer's disbelief and makes the storyline seem as if it was happening in real time. The blending of illustrative and amplification elements makes our storyline presentation less jarring as the viewer may project themselves upon the emotionally ambivalent characters.
Digipak and poster
Our Digipak and poster follow most of the conventions of promotional artwork of the post-punk genre. My research and planning has shown that similar artists rarely use images of the band in their artwork, so we followed suit. We used Photoshop extensively to create images that were recognisable to our audience, but kept some of the abstract colours typical of genre to keep the artwork interesting.
A packaging convention we have not used is a barcode on the back cover. We planned for the CD to come packaged in a cardboard cover which would have the barcode on it. The barcode was removed as it looked out of place on the green striped background.
In terms of framing on the covers, we have followed conventions as we felt little benefit in changing a universally used format. The front cover has both the band and track name with some bordering, while the back cover has a track listing and a different border style.
How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Software:
Unsigned
We found a song to use as a basis for our music video using Unsigned. The advantage of using this website is that all artists featured are unsigned, meaning we won't be sued by a record label for using their song. We emailed the band asking for a response to our video, but as of yet they haven't replied.
Facebook
We used social media to host our music video and Digipak. We did this a large proportion of the users of Facebook are of the age of our target audience, and so their feedback is very valuable to us. Although the band do have a fan page on Facebook, it has been inactive since 2009. Regardless, we posted a link on their page anyway in the hopes that one of their fans watch it and gives us some feedback.
YouTube
YouTube was used extensively in the research phase of our production. We used it to find existing music videos for use as inspiration, and any other video of note I found was posted on my blog for reference. As well as posting full videos, the screen shot tool on Windows was used to capture still images that were captioned to provide an example for the written text. We used YouTube to host our music video and had the ability to both post the URL and embed the video onto other websites. YouTube also proved useful in finding tutorials on how to do certain things, such as creating the striped background, in Photoshop.
Blogger
Blogger hosts all of my Media coursework, from the preliminary research to the final product. There are many advantages of using Blogger over paper to collate coursework. Firstly, every entry to the blog can be easily edited with pictures and videos from any computer, negating the need for USB sticks to transport work between computers. Comments can be posted directly onto the blog, making their content more direct in a manner that can't be lost or damaged. The blog can be accessed by anyone at anytime online, making feedback easy to collect. The posts are catagorised by date added, so it easy to sift through dozens of posts to find one specifically.
Adobe Photoshop CS6
We used Photoshop to create and compile graphics which became our Digipak and poster. I started with very little knowledge of the software, but through experimentation and tutorials, I ended up quite good with the basic tools by the end. Photoshop allowed us to create a Digipak which I thought was to a very high standard.
iMovie
iMovie was used to store and edit our footage and song together into the music video. Progress was slow to begin with but quickened as we got a grasp of how the software worked. The software also exported the finished product onto a USB stick where it could be uploaded.
iTunes
We used iTunes very briefly; to import the song from Jack's phone so it could be used in iMovie.
Prezi
We used Prezi to create our ideas pitch. We used Prezi as we felt the aesthetic was much cleaner than that of say Powerpoint or SlideShare.
Hardware:
Sony camcorder/tripod
We filmed all of our footage on a Sony camcorder. Although the visual quality of the camera was not what we would of liked, its one button start/stop recording onto an SD card made the camera handle well. The tripod was used to stabilise our footage where able, some shots were too close to the floor or at too much of an acute angle for it to be used.
iMac
We used an iMac as they had the software on them we needed to create our video, namely iMovie and iTunes. Luckily, we didn't have a problem with its differences with Windows as we used Macs in a similar manner for AS Media last year.
Unsigned
We found a song to use as a basis for our music video using Unsigned. The advantage of using this website is that all artists featured are unsigned, meaning we won't be sued by a record label for using their song. We emailed the band asking for a response to our video, but as of yet they haven't replied.
 |
| Odd Shaped Head's Unsigned profile. |
We used social media to host our music video and Digipak. We did this a large proportion of the users of Facebook are of the age of our target audience, and so their feedback is very valuable to us. Although the band do have a fan page on Facebook, it has been inactive since 2009. Regardless, we posted a link on their page anyway in the hopes that one of their fans watch it and gives us some feedback.
 |
| Odd Shaped Head's Facebook fan page, which has 51 likes. |
YouTube
YouTube was used extensively in the research phase of our production. We used it to find existing music videos for use as inspiration, and any other video of note I found was posted on my blog for reference. As well as posting full videos, the screen shot tool on Windows was used to capture still images that were captioned to provide an example for the written text. We used YouTube to host our music video and had the ability to both post the URL and embed the video onto other websites. YouTube also proved useful in finding tutorials on how to do certain things, such as creating the striped background, in Photoshop.
Blogger
Blogger hosts all of my Media coursework, from the preliminary research to the final product. There are many advantages of using Blogger over paper to collate coursework. Firstly, every entry to the blog can be easily edited with pictures and videos from any computer, negating the need for USB sticks to transport work between computers. Comments can be posted directly onto the blog, making their content more direct in a manner that can't be lost or damaged. The blog can be accessed by anyone at anytime online, making feedback easy to collect. The posts are catagorised by date added, so it easy to sift through dozens of posts to find one specifically.
Adobe Photoshop CS6
We used Photoshop to create and compile graphics which became our Digipak and poster. I started with very little knowledge of the software, but through experimentation and tutorials, I ended up quite good with the basic tools by the end. Photoshop allowed us to create a Digipak which I thought was to a very high standard.
iMovie
iMovie was used to store and edit our footage and song together into the music video. Progress was slow to begin with but quickened as we got a grasp of how the software worked. The software also exported the finished product onto a USB stick where it could be uploaded.
iTunes
We used iTunes very briefly; to import the song from Jack's phone so it could be used in iMovie.
Prezi
We used Prezi to create our ideas pitch. We used Prezi as we felt the aesthetic was much cleaner than that of say Powerpoint or SlideShare.
Hardware:
Sony camcorder/tripod
We filmed all of our footage on a Sony camcorder. Although the visual quality of the camera was not what we would of liked, its one button start/stop recording onto an SD card made the camera handle well. The tripod was used to stabilise our footage where able, some shots were too close to the floor or at too much of an acute angle for it to be used.
iMac
We used an iMac as they had the software on them we needed to create our video, namely iMovie and iTunes. Luckily, we didn't have a problem with its differences with Windows as we used Macs in a similar manner for AS Media last year.
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Response to our Digipak
We have shown our Digipak to a year 10 class and gathered some responses. On the whole, they really liked the colour scheme and layout of the material. Since they hadn't heard the song, it was hard for us to ask how well the materials linked to the song. However, the theme of lighthearted tongue in cheek crime came through to them which was one of our aims of the Digipak. We felt we used conventions of the post-punk genre effectively and that was a reason behind the success of our Digipak.
Friday, 6 December 2013
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