Digipak Changes from Draft to Final - Michael

 This was my first completed draft. Originally I was pleased with this as I liked the continuity throughout. From feedback I received I was pleased with people's initial reactions. Many people commented on the  photography and said the inner stretched out photo worked very well alongisde the front cover. I also received a comment that stated the change in colour between the black and white collage and the inner two panels worked well. as it was a nice blend. 

 In my second draft, I decided I wasn't fond of the use of the collage as I believed it looked messy and less professional than it could, so I got rid of it and took another photo that fitted in and had a similar style to the photo on the first inside panel. Many people told me they liked this photo and it suited the overall digipak much more than the collage and that the layout still worked well.

In my third and final draft I decided to keep the same photo that I used in the second on the right inside panel. However, I also decided that this didn't fit with the theme that had continued throughout the rest of the digipak, as only one person is present in the picture. To fix this issue I went into Photoshop and duplicated the first figure. This then meant my final digipak was consistent, clean and appeared professional throughout. 

Magazine Advert Changes from Draft to Final - Michael

Even when creating my first draft I was aware that I wanted to make a obvious visual link between my album cover and the advert that I would create. I decided I would do this by incorporating the image used on the front cover  onto the magazine advert. In my first draft i decided to put the image in the middle of a white border and used the band's name as a visual statement by making it bold, black and by locating it at the top of the poster. Originally I liked this advert as I believed it looked clean and simple but I was recommended, through feedback from a friend, to try a different design as this one may not look as good in a magazine, as the white border makes the page appear smaller.

In my second draft included all the same information, but instead of keeping the same layout, I moved it around. I focused the majority of the white space on the image and only left a small rectangular shape at the bottom for the text and information to go. I also made the band's name a lot more predominant by changing the color of the name and putting it over a black background. I did this as the band's name is very important as people will need to remember it i it is to be advertised properly.

In my final draft I left everything the same as the previous, except for the colour at the bottom of the advert. It was suggested to me by a friend that I make this section of the poster black to make the white text pop even more than it did before. I tried this and kept this idea as I believed that it made it look as if the over image was carried on and the space beneath the two figures was a lot larger, further adding to the desired professional appearance.

The final changes I made to my magazine advert were minimal. I removed one of the star ratings as I believed it looked a little clustered. As well as this i simply changed the names of the companies that had given ratings. I decided that the previous names didn't fit into the correct genre, so entered magazines and companies that did. 

Evaluation Question 1 - Michael

Evaluation Question 2- Milo O'mahoney

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

The combination of my ancillary texts (my digipak and magazine advert) started off rough and vague for I had not used the same photo for my advert and album cover so they had virtually no similarities.

This is because I did the two separately with two completely different 'visions' of what I wanted each product to look like. Feedback that I received also outlined that, as I decided not to include the name of the album on the cover, so I could not then intentionally emphasis a difference as an alternative feature because the two products could not be recognized as related to each other. If you saw the advert in a magazine then the album cover online or in a shop you wouldn't think they were the same the product. This is the main reason why I changed the photo on the advert to the one I used as my cover and then I made some minor adjustments to the photo I had set as my cover.  



Since I made the adjustments, I believe that the consistency and overall effectiveness of my ancillary texts has greatly improved. Not only do the two products match each other, but I also believe that the overall quality of the texts has increased simply due to a better image on the magazine advert and a better layout on the digipak.

One example of consistent ancillary texts could be 'the 1975' by the 1975. Both their album cover and magazine advert were of the same design and featured a black rectangle with a border of white light leaning against a wall with "THE1975" in a strange font in the middle. This is the same for any poster or magazine advert and is now instantly recognizable.

Evaluation Question 3- Milo O'Mahoney

Evaluation 3

Evaluation Question 4- Milo O'Mahoney

Evaluation question 4 from miloomahoney

Evaluation Question 1 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 1:  In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

When in the planning and designing stages of our media product, we needed to look and take inspiration from other videos. This was crucial so that we could ensure our music video was the best it could possibly be. To make sure that we could aim our music video at our target audience we had to use research to try an aim for a specific target market. We wanted our product to both meet and defy conventions. If we were to do this we needed to research and find modern day conventions which we could challenge. We took inspiration from many videos, mainly all narrative but also some performance videos, as we knew we wanted to make our video similar to this  style.

Originally we took large amounts of inspiration from Circa Waves’ – Stuck in my Teeth, as our previous ideas consisted of a greater ratio of performance aspect. In this video, the band are shown playing the song throughout, but with clips in-between off the group messing around. This had originally appealed to us.

After a while of planning, we decided we’d rather make a more cinematic/narrative styled music video. This goes against conventions of a stereotypical indie music videos, as the majority are performance based, even if there is a little narrative. To look for inspiration when making our video we turned to the music video for Milky Chance’s ‘Flashed Junk Mind’. 

 Although our video is a binary opposite of this video, due to the emotion and atmosphere of the final product, the style, shots and overall design of the video are similar. We took great inspiration from this video and used lots of the shots in our own video to create a similar style.. Similarly to the video for Flashed Junk Mind we also incorporated a slight performance aspect into our video. This mainly consisted of solitary singing and small slips of a guitar, however these stand alone performance clips meant we were able to stay in the genre of our song choice.  Also, because of this our product is more likely to be able to be recognized and appear as a realistic media product and music video.

When creating the storyboard and initial idea for our music video we had to come up with a story line that would fit the atmosphere and tone of the song, as well as the lyrical content. We decided that a more depressing style would suit our video. However, although we wanted to make the story clear to the viewer, we also decided that it was crucial not too make the video too cliche or blatantly obvious. We researched certain videos and decided we wanted to use the shots and the actors to tell the story rather than making it extremely obvious through too much visual aid.  For example, in our initial planning we wanted one of the main actors to end up standing on a bridge, to show he was about to jump off, but we decided this was too obvious. To make the video more professional we wanted it to be interpreted by the reader, so got rid of all these obvious shots. I believe that because of this we were able to compare our music video to other media products so that we could convey realistic conventions. Videos such as Green Day's 'When September Ends' has a similar tone to that of the atmosphere created in our own media product.

Evaluation Question 3 Draft - Michael

Evaluation Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Throughout this project, audience feedback has played an important part in the creation and final product of both our music video and my personal ancillary products. By receiving and taking in feedback from a whole range of different audiences I was able to adapt my final piece to ensure it was as good a media product as it could be.

Pitch: I first received feedback when, as a group, we pitched our first ideas for our music video. We created a 25 word pitch to express our original ideas to our peers. By receiving feedback on this we were able to adapt our ideas to suit that of an age group in our target audience. Comments such as:

      
were able to help us build on our original ideas. We answered questions that we were asked via feedback, and used these questions to slightly altar our planning. During the early stages of our planning this feedback was welcomed and became very helpful, as it meant we were able to learn about our target audience (as our media products were aimed at students the similar age to ourselves). Comments on our pitch, such as Phoebe's, that asked questions, such as, where we would be filming, allowed us to ask ourselves these questions and think about these for the first time ourselves. This was extremely helpful and meant we were able to start planning locations and other queries much earlier in the project than we may have done otherwise.

Digipak: More personally, I started to receive comments on my ancillary texts, when I published my draft digipak on the group blogger. With this piece I was able to ask for feedback from my subject teacher, as well as peers and other media students. Although my media studies teacher would not fit into the same target audience as was desired for our music video and final media products, I respected and was grateful for their personal feedback. As this teacher had seen many examples of student work in the past, and as I knew they had an interest in the genre we were using, I was encouraged by their positive feedback and took in their advice to make changes to certain aspects of my draft digipak. 

I also showed this piece to my family and friends. I favored my friends opinions over that of my family. I chose and made the decision to not listen to feedback or advice from my parents and other family members, as I believed they had no previous interest in the genre and did not fit into the target audience we had aimed to hit. If I were to listen to feedback from this group, my work may of ended up in a different style or may have been aimed at a different target audience. It was crucial I filtered the feedback I received and only listen to comments that came from members of my target audience, or someone with prior knowledge and understanding of the genre. This was why I valued the opinion of my friends and peers. After publishing my draft digipak, I asked peers and other members of my class to comment on this post so that I could receive as much suitable and relevant feedback as possible. 

I found the feedback I received from peers on this product just as helpful. The whole point of creating a draft was so that I could get feedback and improve on mistakes and see if anyone had any suggestions. Comments such as 'Charlotte's', which advised me to look at the individual panels and make them connect fluently had a great impact on my overall product. I listened to her feedback and completely changed one of the inside panels which hugely increased the professional appearance of my original draft. 

Advert: Similarly to my digipak I was able to get my magazine advert draft assessed by many different audiences. My family, my teachers and my peers all gave me feedback for this piece which massively aided me in my success of making this a successful and professional appearing  media product. In the same way that i did when publishing my draft digipak, I received feedback via comments from peers, from which I assessed my own work and made changes that were recommended to me by both my teacher and other media students. 

Video: The last part of my project that I was able to receive feedback on was the main media product, the video. Once we had taken all our shots and edited the video together we uploaded a draft version onto our blog. Similarly to my personal ancillary products, this post was commented on by our teacher. He advised us on certain aspects of our video and we learnt how to make it even better. this constructive criticism was helpful as it aided us in making the best music media video we possibly could. Although unfortunately we did not receive any feedback from peers or friends for this draft, we found the assessment from our tutor was sufficient and that because of this we were able to make a more professional and real life appearing media product. 

Overall I believe we greatly relied on the feedback we were given in order to reassess our work and make decisions to make changes to separate products which were greatly beneficial to us in the long run.  

  

DRAFT Evaluation question 1. Milo O'Mahoney

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

The obvious way in which we develop conventions found in real media products is by frequently mimicking common camera shots found in narrative music videos such as slow motion walking, out of focus lights and only infrequent use of instruments or singing etc. One example of real media products that also employ these features is "Flashed Junk Mind" by Milky chance. Their entire video essentially consists of the two band members and assorted extras walking through fields and engaging in random activities such as golf in a quarry and jumping into a river.

However, we actually challenged conventions by making what is, for all intents and purposes, a binary opposite music video. Although we share many of the same shots, we ended up having the main 'character' of the video alone for most of the video. Most of the scenes were also either filmed at night or inside, forming a theme of loneliness and sorrow. We also develop what is a common concept (a sad, narrative music video) by creating a very disjunctive story line unlike most sad narrative videos such as "when you're gone" by Avril Lavigne and "when September ends" by Green day.

There are exceptions of course, one notable one of course is "hurt" by Johnny Cash which is made up of assorted clips and Johnny Cash sitting at a piano playing and singing. The video plays very well to the sorrowful undertones of the song as well as real life events experienced by the performer. Our music video works as a crossover between these two styles of sad, narrative music videos with performance elements by paring sad themes with disjunctive story and infrequent yet noticeable use of performance.

Feedback Received from Draft Magazine Advert - Michael

Feedback Received from Draft Digiak - Michael

6 Panel Digipak Decision - Michael

When planning for my digipak, I had to choose on the style and design of my media product, but as well as this I also needed to make a decision on the practical element of my digipak. I used the site 'DiscWizards' to research and locate different types of digipak and the wide variety of shapes and sizes that were available. This site would also give me a template as a basis for the creation of my digipak.  In the end I decided to make a 6 panel digipak, meaning there would be six panels all together in both the inside and outside of the album casing. I decided to pick six panels, as opposed to four, so that I could fully make sure I was able to both follow and defy conventions whilst maintaining the same theme throughout. I researched and looked at many albums to help me aid me in my decision.

Digipak and Magazine Analysis - Michael

Digipak and Magazine Advert Analysis from michaelwilsonasmedia

Magazine Album Advert Analysis - Michael

Digipak Analysis - Digipaks I Own - Michael

King Krule - 6 Feet Beneath the Moon (2013)

When researching digipaks and the common conventions that they follow, I found King Krule's 2013 album, 6 Feet Beneath the Moon, very interesting. This album goes against many conventions as neither the front cover or the middle two panels contain any text. The only text is down the spine of the package and on the back cover, where the track listings are placed. The middle panels are filled with one long connected image of doodle appearing drawings, graphics and photos of random objects, such as plants and broken speakers all placed next to one larger image, in the corner, of Archy Marshall, otherwise known as King Krule, the artist of this album.  He appears to b drawing in a book which makes it appear as that he has drawn the images on the middle two panels. 

I am intrigued by the graphic design on this cover and would be very interested in doing something very similar when creating my own digipak. I am also very fond of the colour scheme used on this album, as it is very simple and minimal.the majority of the 4 panel pack is black and white except the background faded blue on the middle panels. 

Cage the Elephant - Thank You, Happy Birthday (2011)

This digipak is one of my favorites that I own. The cover and inside panels are all graphic design and interest me greatly due to the abstract nature of the artwork included. The appearance of the font used and the drawings make the album seem as if they've been drawn on and annotated freehand. In contrast to the cover and the artwork the CD from the package is completely blank and stands out against the rest of the casing. I like the idea of the simplicity of this in comparison to the rest of the digipak.

I would like to incorporate certain features of this when creating my own digipak, such as the minimal CD in comparison to the rest of the chaotic cover and inlays. I would also like to incorporate certain types of graphic design in my own case as I feel that without it it may be lacking, I could use the drawings present on this album as inspiration.  Although there is not a huge amount of text or  variety in background colours, this digipak is not minimal due to the vivid and unusual drawings situated all over it.

Arctic Monkeys - Humbug (2009)

Another digipak I am very fond of is Humbug, by the Arctic Monkeys. Many of the covers and packs that I have looked at and took inspiration from have not included an image of the artist or band, however this cover appeals to me due to the nature of the photos used throughout the digipak. The initial cover photo appears not to be staged, but instead to natural. I like the idea of this as it goes against conventions and cliches of normal album covers. A photo that includes band members is also used on the inside covers and panels. An image of two band members climbing a hill is stretch across both of the inside panels. I really like this effect of a larger image being used to fill inside panels and will defiantly look at trying to use this when building my own digipak. Very little text is used throughout this digipak which inspires me to create a similarly minimal scheme as i find that minimal albums have a good effect on drawing in an audience. 

Although the main layout for this digipak appears minimal, the colour scheme is not. On both the back and the front covers the colours are dull, faded and give of a 'retro' feel. The inside panels, however, do not sick to this scheme and use way more vivid colours that make the audience question the location of the image. This sense of mystery and questioning is inspiring and makes me want to incorporate questions into the imagery I use.  

Drenge - Drenge (2013)

I have always been fond of Drenge album covers due to the fact that they rarely use text on the front covers of their albums or singles and because they use interesting photography or graphic design to style their albums. Their first debut album is my favorite. On the front and back covfers the same image of a graveyard is included. This image is interesting as it makes the audience think what thew image is representing. the colour scheme on the back and front is black and white, which seems grim and matches the "grungey" music that the band makes. This colour scheme doesn't continue to the inlays of the digipak. Unlike the outside of the package, the inside is bright and vivid and stands out due to three bright colours. this contrast is intriguing but I don't think I'll use this idea when creating my own digipak as I would prefer to keep a consistent layout.  

 Drenge are a English indie rock duo that are made up of two brothers. The graphic and image on the CD itself shows a photo of the brothers when they were younger. I find this idea equally as interesting and  would certainly consider using older photos of the band members in my fictitious band. 

CD cover analysis #1 // Sachin Mistry

CD cover analysis #2 // Sachin Mistry

Magazine advert analysis #3 // Sachin Mistry

Evaluation of album magazine adverts - Milo O'mahoney

Magazine advert analysis #2 // Sachin Mistry